by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN) – The invasion of Russian forces in Ukraine has been going on for 26 weeks, a little over six months. The war there shows no indication of an end in sight. There are growing concerns about an accident at a nuclear power station captured by Russian forces in Zaporizhzhia.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), made up of 30 independent member countries, including the United States of America, the United Kingdom and much of the European Union as well as much of the world, has condemned the invasion since the onset.
In retaliation, NATO has waged an economic war on Russia with sanctions on oil, Russian banks in international countries and even the bank accounts of Russian oligarchs.
Despite the economic sanctions, Russian not only continued its invasion of Ukraine, but Moscow also advanced further into the Slavic state.
While NATO was expecting the sanctions to strain the Russian economy, the economies of other countries are being strained as supply routes are being restricted, and the stoppage of food exports from Ukraine are contributing to the global food shortage being experienced.
Ukraine is a major producer and exporter of staple grains. According to international reports, the grains the country exports are vital commodities for the global food system; the World Food Program, the United Nations’ humanitarian food-assistance organisation, gets 40 percent of its wheat from Ukraine.
In July, a deal was reached to allow millions of tonnes of grain, currently trapped in Ukraine by the war, to be exported. The world shortage of Ukrainian grain since Russia’s February 24 invasion has left millions at risk of hunger.
Now the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is aiming to have Russia continue its global supply of other essential exports apart from gas, which was stopped for Germany on July 11 for ten days and stopped for Latvia on July 30.
Secretary-General Guterres shared that the United Nations is working with the United States and the European Union to overcome obstacles to Russian food and fertilisers reaching world markets.
