After his initial military attack stalled, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of attempting to starve Ukraine into submission.
Russian forces initiated their invasion preparations in late February, but were thwarted by valiant Ukrainian soldiers, forcing the Kremlin to change tactics.
“This night, our territory was again targeted by Russian missiles,” he stated during a special gathering of Ireland’s parliament. They are destroying items that people rely on for a living.
“They have also blocked all of our seaports, as well as the vessels carrying agricultural supplies for export.”
“What are they thinking? Because, for them, hunger is a weapon used against regular people as a tool of dominance.”
Food has nearly ran out in the strategically crucial city of Mariupol, where an estimated 170,000 people are believed to be trapped by the Russian blockade, by March 13, with no assistance convoys making it through since then.
Janusz Wojciechowsk, the EU’s agricultural commissioner, believes Russia’s actions are reminiscent of the Holodomor, or “Terror Famine,” in which Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin purposely manufactured a food crisis that killed at least four million Ukrainians in the mid-1930s.
“The only explanation is that [the Russians] intend to generate hunger and exploit it as a form of violence,” he remarked on March 23.
“It’s a similar tactic to what the Soviet dictatorship employed against the Ukrainian people in the 1930s.”
Ukraine, according to World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley, has “gone from breadbasket to breadlines.”
“Our first concern is reaching the 40 million Ukrainians.” If we don’t get to them, they will definitely starve to death.”
In any other April, Ukrainian farmers would be planting maize and sunflowers for the summer harvest.
However, due to fuel, fertiliser, and seed shortages, it seems unlikely that a regular harvest will be achieved this year.
Last month, Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Roman Leshchenko requested assistance from the EU, stating that his nation “urgently” need billions of seeds to grow cabbages, beets, carrots, and tomatoes to feed its population.
There is also a considerable scarcity of farm labourers, as many of them have enlisted in the military.
President Zelensky warned that Russia’s control on Ukraine’s food supply will cause global distress.
“Ukraine is one of the world’s major food-supplying countries in terms of exports,” he stated. “It’s not only about the deficit and the prospect of starvation.
“There will be a food scarcity and price increases, and this is reality for the millions of people who are hungry, making it more difficult for them to feed their families.”
