Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zievsky, warned Monday that the amount of grain being exported and blocked in Ukraine by the war could triple "by the fall" to reach 75 millions tonnes.
According to the Ukrainian president, who was the fourth-largest exporter of wheat in the world, "Currently, between 20-25 million tonnes of grain are being blocked" corn before the Russian invasion.
The Ukrainian president stated that maritime corridors are needed and is currently in discussions with Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the UN. He also said that exports by sea permit the export of 10,000,000 tons. month.
He said that Ukraine is also in talks with Poland and other Baltic countries about small grain exports by rail.
Russian President Vladimir Putin stated last week that there are "no problems exporting wheat from Ukraine". He discussed ways to export grain from Ukrainian ports or other countries under Russian control, as well as via Central and Eastern Europe.
These solutions are rejected by Ukraine, who accuses Russia for blocking its ports.
"Putin can't be trusted," Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, wrote on Twitter Monday in response to Moscow's promise not to attack Odessa.
Since February 24, Russia-Ukraine has been at war with each other in a conflict that pits two superpowers in cereals - Russia and Ukraine both provide 30% of the world's wheat exports. It caused an increase in prices for grains and oils that was higher than those experienced during the Arab Springs and 2008's "food riots".
Ukraine had just gone through war to become the third-largest exporter of wheat in the world. It also accounted for half the world's sunflower seed and oil trade.
"A hurricane of famines" is what the UN fears, mainly in African countries which have imported more than half their wheat from Russia or Ukraine.
According to the US Department of Agriculture's WASDE report (World Argicultural Supply and Demand Estimates), Ukraine exported 20 million tonnes of wheat and 27.5 millions tons of corn for the 2021/22 season.
