Kyiv launches ‘Grain from Ukraine’ scheme for poor African nations amid Russian invasion

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy along with allied nations launched a ‘Grain from Ukraine’ initiative on Saturday to export grains worth USD 150 million to countries most vulnerable to famine and drought.

This comes even as millions of people who live in and around Ukraine’s capital Kyiv remain with little electricity and heat.

The summit coincided with Ukraine’s annual memorial day for Holodomor – a Soviet-era famine that killed millions of Ukrainians in the winter of 1932-33.

Here are the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine war:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a bid to challenge the Russian narrative that the West’s response to the ongoing war has aggravated pre-existing food shortages in Africa, announced the ‘Grain from Ukraine’ scheme at a summit in Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said the government had raised $150 million from more than 20 countries and the European Union (EU) to export grain to countries including Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen.

The announcement of the scheme came after Russia said food exported from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports as per an agreement under the United Nations (UN) has not been reaching the most vulnerable countries.

While announcing the scheme, Zelenskyy said global food security was “not just empty words” for Kyiv. “We plan to send at least 60 vessels from Ukrainian ports to countries that most face the threat of famine and drought,” he told those gathered for the summit.

Meanwhile in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, the people’s woes see no end as heavy snowfall is expected from Sunday even as millions face electricity and heat shortages. The temperature is expected to drop below freezing even as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that there are restrictions on the use of electricity in 14 out of Ukraine’s 27 regions.

Meanwhile, the head of Ukraine’s police said on Saturday that at least 32 people have been killed by Russian shelling in the Kherson region ever since pro-Moscow forces completed their withdrawal from the city almost two weeks ago.

After a nine-month long occupation, Russian forces completed their withdrawal from the city of Kherson on November 11. Following the withdrawal, the forces are currently positioned on the eastern bank of the Dnipro, from where they have been shelling the city regularly.

On the Russian side of the war, it is likely that the forces are removing nuclear warheads from ageing nuclear cruise missiles and firing unarmed munitions at Ukraine, said Britain’s military intelligence. This points to a severe depletion in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s stocks.

Open sources imagery of Russian missiles showed that a missile was fired at Ukraine which seems to have been designed in the 1980s as a nuclear delivery system.