The Crisis Report — 04

Things are getting very tense about the 20 million tons of grain stuck in Ukraine.

Here’s why.

If you are following the war in Ukraine you have probably noticed that things are getting tense about the 20 million tons of wheat stuck in ports in Ukraine. Stories like this are becoming frequent.

Russia’s grain blockade may require U.S. intervention, general suggests

Western officials have accused Moscow of using food as a form of blackmail, as Russia’s navy effectively controls all traffic in the northern third of the Black Sea, according to U.S. intelligence assessments.

The American general slated to become NATO’s next supreme allied commander warned that Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain exports could enable terrorist networks in other parts of the world and may require U.S. military intervention to ensure global markets don’t become destabilized.

U.S. intelligence document shows Russian naval blockade of Ukraine

World leaders call the Kremlin’s actions a deliberate attack on the global food supply chain.

Europe’s lost ‘breadbasket’: How Russia’s war in Ukraine is stoking a global food crisis

Zelenskyy: Ukraine grain blockade will spark famine, migration

Russia’s maritime blockade of Ukraine is causing a “catastrophic” rise in the price of food and basic goods, which will lead to protests, famine and migration around the world, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday.

“The world is now teetering on the cusp of a food security crisis,” Zelenskyy told an audience via video link at the start of the Globsec conference in Bratislava. “There is a … catastrophic rise in prices of basic products in various countries.”

Millions of tons of wheat and grain remain locked inside Ukraine, putting pressure on import-dependent states in North Africa and the Middle East that are usually reliant on the Ukrainian harvest.

“If we do not avert [the supply problems] we will see political chaos in Africa and Asia, and an ensuing migration crisis in Europe when people suffering from famine will seek refuge elsewhere,” Zelenskyy…