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Reports of stolen grain by Russian troops “credible” as Ukrainian exports uncertain
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken says Russia is forcing the world into a food crisis with attacks on Ukraine’s grain infrastructure.
“There are credible reports…that Russia is pilfering Ukraine’s exports to sell for its own profit.”
At State Department roundtable on food security issues, he said a Russian blockade in the Black Sea is preventing countries from receiving their exports. “There are somewhere around 20 million tons of wheat that is trapped in silos near Odessa and in ships literally filled with grain that is stuck in the Odessa port.”
Dr. Antonia Broyaka is a visiting professor and ag economist from Ukraine with Kansas State University. “We lost a lot of storages, not only facilities, but grain was stolen. We know about 500,000 metric tons that were stolen.”
Russia’s military has destroyed Ukraine’s third largest export facility and she tells Brownfield the country won’t have enough storage capacity for crops that will soon be harvested. “We need to build probably new storage facilities closer to Europe. But that’s the big question of money and time.”
Broyaka says Ukraine has lost about 13 million metric tons of storage capacity and will need an additional 23 million metric tons for storage.
Dr. Antonia Broyaka with Kansas State University:
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