Ukraine launches food aid programme in bid for support from African and Asian countries
- Kyiv announced launch of an international aid programme called ‘Grain from Ukraine’. Initiative will provide for food deliveries to poor nations
- ‘Ukraine has always been and will remain the guarantor of world food security,’ said Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky
Kyiv announced the launch of an international aid programme called “Grain from Ukraine” on Saturday, a bid to win the support of countries in Africa and Asia for its attempts to fight off Russia’s invasion.
“Ukraine has always been and will remain the guarantor of world food security, and even in such harsh conditions of war, the Ukrainian leadership works for the sake of global stability,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a press conference during the visit of Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo.
The programme will provide for food deliveries to the poorest countries. Up to about 60 ships will be sent from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports around Odesa to countries such as Sudan, Yemen or Somalia by the middle of next year, Zelensky said.
Several European countries have agreed to finance the deliveries within the framework of the World Food Programme.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, for example, has already declared that a German-sponsored ship of the programme is on its way to deliver Ukrainian grain to Ethiopia.
France is also prepared to provide €6 million (US$6.24 million) to help Ukraine ship food to Yemen and Sudan, said French President Emmanuel Macron.
“The weakest countries can’t have to pay the price for a war they didn’t want,” said Macron in a video posted on Twitter.
