Alleges first action Russia took on invasion of Ukraine was blockade Ukrainian ports to prevent grain exports to the world, thereby triggering world hunger
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned Nigeria and other African countries against Russia partnerships, saying partnerships don’t mean anything to Russia when its missiles begin to land in different countries in pursuit of its ‘colonial’ ambitions.
Speaking with journalists from African countries on the sidelines of the ‘Summit on Food Security – Grain from Ukraine,’ held in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital over the weekend, Zelenskyy warned that often when the time comes to exhibit its habitual diplomatic misbehaviors, it will not matter to Russia what kind of partnership it has with any affected country.
Referencing the dreaded Russian mercenary group Wagner, which Russia uses to exert its military influence abroad, Zelenskyy warned African countries would have a lot of problems with Russia’s ‘colonial’ ambitions if care was not taken.
“I think that they (African countries) will have a lot of problems with Wagner and (by extension) Russia’s influence on politics in your country. It is about security and, as we know very well, it is a pity, but we know it very well,” he said, hinting at the experience of Ukraine in the hands of Russia, its powerful neighbour.
“When you are very dependent on Russia, they will come to you. And when they will come, it doesn’t matter what economic issues you will have, what benefits you have – energy benefits, chemical benefits, grain, etc., from Russia.
“It doesn’t matter when missiles come to your houses, when your country begins to be destroyed backwards, when your children just, you know, die. It doesn’t matter what you have, what price you can reach. At this moment, it doesn’t matter what the price of petrol is in your country. Trust us,” Zelenskyy said.
Earlier, Zelenskyy enthused that, despite the raging war with Russia, the ‘Grain from Ukraine’ programme has been working quite successfully, not to say smoothly, and will continue to expand.
“I want to thank everyone who makes this possible,” the Ukrainian leader said. “Today, important figures, important volumes are being announced here, which represent the most important thing – the real lives of people (being saved by Ukrainian grains): children, families in different parts of the world, not just Europe, of course, which is very important for us, but also in Africa and Asia – the entire world. These are the countries that we have really helped: Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen.
“Now there was a very sensitive video. It was Nigeria and Gaza and so on. Many parts of the world. And I am very pleased, and I want to express my gratitude. And I would like us to applaud the whole team, all the countries that provide all this – such support for people. They bring life to people. Thank you very much.”
He disclosed that overall, in the course of the ‘Grain from Ukraine’ programme, Ukraine has managed to save 20 million people from hunger.
“And this is solely due to one of our humanitarian programmes,” Zelenskyy disclosed. “In total, Ukraine’s food exports feed 400 million people in 100 countries of the world.
“Ukraine is one of the world’s largest contributors to food security. And we maintain this status despite everything, despite this colonial challenge from the Russian Federation. This war is a war against the lives of Ukrainians, against our people, our families.”
Recalling the start of his country’s two-year conflict with Russia, Zelenskyy said that Russia’s ‘full-scale’ invasion of Ukraine began, among other things, with the Russian fleet blockading Ukrainian ports.
“This was the starting point. And Russia was well aware of the consequences of this. They wanted those consequences, of course, the terrible outcome for the whole world – not just for Ukraine,” he lamented.
“They wanted global food prices to rise. And this was not just a desire for more money, more profits. This certainly is the case, and it was the case in Russia. But then it was primarily about power. If they can create a food catastrophe, it means they can subjugate a nation that is dependent on food imports – any food. This is an extremely sensitive issue for most African nations, for a significant number of people in Asia. And in Europe or in America, the question of prices is always a question of stability in this or that region. And stability is important for people’s lives.”
Explaining why the world must come together to defend food security, the Ukrainian president stressed: “That is why it is so important that we continue to stand together in defending food security, the security of food supply routes and other critical export goods.
“Solely during the operation of the food export corridor in our Black Sea – from July of last year to this month – 321 infrastructure facilities in our ports have been damaged by Russian missiles and Iranian drone strikes. More than 20 vessels – ordinary civilian vessels – were also damaged in the strikes. And we are talking about other countries’ vessels. It is not about Ukrainian vessels. More than 60 targeted strikes were aimed specifically at food infrastructure.
“Through this war against Ukraine, Russia has shown that there are no truly distant countries in the world. Everything in the world is now strongly interconnected. There is no distance. There is none.
“Food prices in Egypt, Libya, Nigeria, and other countries of Africa and the African continent depend directly on the ability of farmers and agribusinesses in Ukraine to function properly. The speed with which we can clear our fields of Russian mines determines how quickly the food market can return to its normal stability.
“And here, of course, I would like to thank our people, our farmers – we have very little time for this gratitude during the war. First of all, we mention our priority – our army, and this is only fair. But I want to tell you: because of this war, because of the heavy mining of our lands, the large amount of land – we are talking about hundreds of thousands of hectares – a significant number of people were injured, but the farmers continued to work, continued to do all this, despite the technical lack of equipment in Ukraine to demine such volumes. I want to thank all the farmers, all the people in the world who have been fighting against hunger around the world. Thank you very much!
“And for Ukraine, it is important to remind everyone of this on these very days, now, when we commemorate all the victims of the large-scale and artificial famine in Ukraine, the Holodomors of different times. Primarily the Holodomor of 1932-1933, which was orchestrated against our people by the then-Moscow authorities. More than 90 years have passed, but the memory of this in Ukrainian families has not and will not fade because millions of people died. We should certainly value every person, tens, thousands, hundreds of thousands. But when it comes to the Holodomor, it is a real genocide because millions of people died.
“We have not forgotten that it all happened. And we must do everything to prevent Russia, again because of its colonial ambitions, or anyone else from creating similar catastrophes that happened in Ukraine – similar catastrophes around the world.”
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