World Food Programme ramps up aid to Ukraine amid reports of severe shortages

The World Food Programme said on Friday it is ramping up food aid to war-torn Ukraine, citing reports of severe shortages of food and water in Kyiv, the capital, and the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

The UN agency said it is in the process of finding partners in Ukraine to help it distribute the food, and that it will also assist Ukrainian refugees coming across the border to neighbouring countries.

Ukraine closed its ports last Thursday after Russian forces attacked in the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two. The closure means an inability to import goods, exacerbating food shortages caused by the general mayhem of war.

“In a year when the world is already facing an unprecedented level of hunger, it’s just tragic to see hunger raising its head in what has long been the breadbasket of Europe,” WFP Executive Director David Beasley said during a visit to the agency’s operations hub on the Polish-Ukrainian border.

The Russia-Ukraine war has contributed to surging global food price inflation.

The two countries account for 29 per cent of global wheat exports and 19 per centof global corn exports. Ukraine is however unable to export due to the port closures, while Russia’s exports have been hamstrung by unprecedented Western financial sanctions.