Global Food Crisis Back On? Russia Bails From Grain Deal, Blaming Ukraine Drone Attack

Topline

Russian officials reneged on its deal with Ukraine clearing the Black Sea for grain exports, after it claimed Ukraine led a drone strike on its Crimean naval fleet—threatening what officials warn could become a global food crisis.

Russia reneged on its side of a monumental agreement with Ukraine to allow grain exports to resume … [+] in the Black Sea, following an attack on its fleet in Crimea.

AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

The drone strikes caused “minor damage” to two Russian naval vessels that are both involved in protecting Ukrainian grain shipments, Russian-installed local Gov. Mikhail Razvozhayev said on his Telegram channel—although Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Internal Affairs Minister, said “several Russian warships,” including a frigate and a landing ship, had blown up in the attack.

Russia’s Defense Ministry labeled the strike on Russia’s Black Sea fleet near the Crimean city of Sevastopo a “terrorist” attack, accusing Ukraine of conducting it and claiming British Navy “specialists” helped plan it, Russian news agency RIA reported Saturday morning.

The strike comes more than three months after Ukraine and Russia came to a breakthrough deal with the United Nations and Turkey to allow grain ships to safely leave Ukrainian Black Sea ports, with Turkey acting as a moderator to inspect the ships before they depart—ending a five-month Russian naval blockade on Ukraine, known as Europe’s “breadbasket.”

United Nations officials reportedly reached out to Russian authorities Saturday in regards to resuming the Black Sea Grain Initiative, with Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, saying the deal is a “critical humanitarian effort that is clearly having a positive impact on access to food for millions of people,” the New York Times reported.

Although Russian officials blamed the attack on their fleet for canceling the agreement, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba claimed Russia had prior plans to “ruin” it, accusing Moscow of using the drone strike as a “false pretext to block the grain corridor,” and calling on countries to demand Russia “stop its hunger games and recommit to its obligations.”

Razvozhayev also claimed Russian forces repelled further damage by shooting down the entirety of the drones used in the attack.

Tangent

Russian officials on Saturday also accused the British Navy of participating in the “planning, support and implementation of a terrorist attack” on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, which suffered leaks into the Baltic Sea last month. Moscow officials claim Western countries conducted a cover-up, Russian state news agency TASS reported, with Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova claiming Western countries have “something to hide.” A Swedish Security Service preliminary investigation released earlier this month determined the pipelines connecting Russia and Germany were blown up, although it did not name a culprit. President Joe Biden had called the leak a “deliberate act of sabotage,” adding Russia is “pumping out disinformation and lies”—Moscow fiercely denied having been involved.

Chief Critic

Britain’s Defence Ministry, in response, denied the allegations in a tweet, calling Russia’s claims an “invented story” it could use to “detract from their disastrous handling of the illegal invasion of Ukraine.”

Key Background

Officials from Russia and Ukraine struck a deal with the U.N. and Turkey in July to lift Russia’s naval blockade in the Black Sea, allowing Ukrainian vessels to guide grain ships out of its port cities, with Turkey responsible for inspecting the ships, which Russian officials had warned could be filled with smuggled arms. Ukrainian officials had signaled Russia’s blockade could cause a sharp rise in food prices, with President Volodymyr Zelensky arguing it could spark protests, famine and mass migration as the world is “teetering on the cusp of a food security crisis.” Russia’s naval blockade off Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, as well as a slew of infrastructure challenges, had kept nearly 25 million tons of grain stuck inside the country, according to Josef Schmidhuber, of the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization.

Big Number

6 million. That’s how many tons of grain Ukraine had been shipping outside the country each month before Putin launched the invasion in February, according to the Ukrainian Grain Association. Its exports plummeted to 300,000 tons in March and roughly 1 million in April and 1.7 million in May.