Kyiv, UKRAINE (AP) — The ship left for Ukraine on Friday in the first food deliveries to Africa under a UN-brokered program to lift the blockade on grain trapped by Russia’s war and bring relief to some people. approached and picked up wheat for the starving people of Ethiopia. Millions of people around the world are at risk of starvation.
For months, fighting and a Russian blockade have left grain produced in Ukraine, known as the breadbasket of the world, piled up in silos, driving food prices so high that it led to starvation in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Connected. In recent days, several ships laden with grain have set sail from Ukrainian ports under the new agreement.
But on Friday, European Council President Charles Michel said the first shipment of humanitarian aid to Africa by the United Nations World Food Program would soon be loaded and then set to depart. It indicated that it was heading for southern Ukraine.
look: The complex task of getting grain out of war-torn Ukraine
Michelle said the ship would bring grain to Ethiopia and said “cooperation of all parties involved is key” in alleviating food shortages and hunger around the world.According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure At that time, the Brave Commander was expected to carry over 23,000 tons of grain. The ship was to dock in Djibouti, the Horn of Africa.
Ethiopia, along with neighboring Somalia and Kenya, is experiencing the Horn of Africa’s driest drought in 40 years. Thousands of people have died of hunger and disease in the region this year. Forecasts for the next few weeks show for the first time that five consecutive rainy seasons will not materialize. Millions of livestock have died, the foundation of many families’ wealth and food security.
“Millions of households will struggle to cope with these shocks” in Ethiopia, according to a new assessment by the Famine Early Warning System Network. Up to 15 million people need food assistance.”
A single shipment wouldn’t have much impact on the crisis, but the World Food Program heralded this as a “significant step” to get Ukrainian grain out of the country and into the worst-affected countries.
The news brought a rare ray of hope, but was offset by constant fighting in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbass, where much of the fighting is concentrated, as the war neared six months. We were hit by 11 rockets in one night. Seven people were killed and 14 injured in the town and its surroundings, where gas, water and electricity remained cut off.
“Three-quarters of the region’s population has already been displaced. Constant shelling by Russian forces leaves civilians with no choice: to die of wounds or of hunger and winter cold. Raft ”Ukrainian TV.
The threat of a nuclear accident looms over eastern Ukraine, with artillery shelling hitting the area home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
Shelling near the Russian-controlled Zaporizhia facility continued throughout the night. Russian forces fired more than 40 rockets at the city of Marhanets, across the Dnieper from the power plant. A recent shelling wounded three of him, including a 12-year-old boy. The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Valentin Leznichenko, said the neighboring city of Nikopol was also hit.
The United Nations nuclear chief warned late Thursday that “highly alarming” military activity at nuclear power plants could lead to dangerous consequences.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi has criticized Russia and Ukraine, which have accused each other of attacking nuclear power plants, on a vast nuclear arsenal where nuclear experts assess the damage and the situation is “worsening”. Very quickly prompted to allow an immediate assessment of the safety and security of the facility. “
He noted that shelling and several explosions in Zaporizhia last Friday shut down power transformers and two backup transformers, and shut down one reactor.