By KYIV. Oct 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Russia’s decision to thwart the "grain initiative" requires a tough response at the UN level and at other levels, including the G20, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"Today, a rather presumptuous statement was made from Russia that they are definitively disrupting the grain export initiative. But in fact, this is not their current decision. Russia deliberately began to aggravate the food crisis back in September, when it blocked the movement of ships with our food," he said in a video statement on Saturday, October 29.
He said "from September to the present, 176 vessels have already accumulated in the grain corridor, which cannot pass along their route. This is food for more than seven million consumers. Some grain carriers have been waiting for more than three weeks. Algeria, Egypt, Yemen, Bangladesh, Vietnam – these and other countries may suffer from another aggravation of a deliberately provoking food crisis."
"Why is it that some bunch of people somewhere in the Kremlin can decide whether food will be on the tables of people in Egypt or in Bangladesh?" He said.
According to Zelensky, "a tough international response is now required both at the UN level and at other levels, including at the level of the G20. Ukraine has been and can continue to be one of the guarantors of global food security. Russian terror and blackmail must lose. Humanity must win. And I thank everyone who helps us bring this time closer."
