ood supplies in Africa will be hit for at least the next two years by Putin’s war in Ukraine, British military chiefs warned on Friday.
They stressed that his decision to withdraw from the Black Sea Grain Initiative would damage food security in a number of countries who often struggle to feed many of their people.
In its latest update on the conflict, the Ministry of Defence in London highlighted the Russia-Africa Conference in St Petersburg on Thursday.
It stressed that 17 African heads of state attended the gathering which it said compared to 43 at the previous one.
“The event takes place ten days after Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI),” the briefing added.
“The BSGI had allowed the export of 30 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain to Africa, providing essential nutrition to states including Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Sudan.”
With Putin’s navy now threatening ships if they are used to export food from Odesa and other Ukrainian ports, the update emphasised: “As well as the direct disruption of supplies, Russia’s blockade of Ukraine is also causing grain prices to rise.
“The impact of the war in Ukraine will almost certainly compound food insecurity across Africa for at least the next two years.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces were said to be making more limited gains in their summer counter-offensive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video Thursday in which a group of Ukrainian soldiers said they had taken control of the village of Staromaiorske in the Donetsk region next to the Zaporizhzhia province. “Our South! Our guys! Glory to Ukraine!” he declared.
Russian military bloggers confirmed that Ukrainian forces have taken part of the village that was the focus of Ukraine’s attacks in recent days. If Russian defences in the area collapse, it would open the way for the Ukrainian forces to push southward toward the coast.
Ukrainian authorities have kept operational details of the counter-offensive under wraps, and they have released scant information about its progress, though there are some reports that the main thrust by Kyiv is starting.
The Washington-based think tank, the Institute for The Study of War, said: “Ukrainian forces continued counter-offensive operations on at least three sectors of the front on July 27 and made gains in some areas, although Ukrainian forces appear not to have continued significant mechanized assaults south of Orikhiv in western Zaporizhia Oblast (province).”
Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Wednesday that troops were advancing toward the city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhizhia region.
The seizure of Melitopol near the Sea of Azov would be a major success for Ukraine, which hopes to punch through the land corridor between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014.
That could split Russian forces into two and cut supply lines to units farther west. Russia currently controls the whole Sea of Azov coast.