Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register WASHINGTON / UNITED NATIONS, March 31 (Reuters) – US government images seen by Reuters showed what a US official said was damage to grain storage facilities in eastern Ukraine, indicating the severity of Russian attacks affecting the world. food. The two black-and-white images showed large rectangular buildings in eastern Ukraine, which first appeared intact in January and then with damaged roofs and what the key calls “impact craters” in March. The U.S. official, commenting on the leaked images, said the United States had information that Russian forces had repeatedly destroyed grain storage facilities in eastern Ukraine. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “By the end of March, at least six grain storage facilities had been damaged as a result of these attacks,” the official said. The development comes as officials around the world worry about the impact on the global food supply of the invasion of Ukraine, the world’s fourth-largest cereal exporter in the 2020/21 season. read more “The reckless destruction of these grain silos by Russia is a clear example of how Putin’s war is directly affecting civilians in Ukraine and threatening food security around the world,” he said. “With countries across Africa and the Middle East dependent on Ukrainian wheat exports, the destruction of these food stocks and storage facilities could lead to shortages and increase prices in already vulnerable economies,” he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin has described his country’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 as a “special military operation” aimed at destroying Ukraine’s military infrastructure. The Biden administration has repeatedly shared its information publicly to put pressure on Putin to invade Ukraine. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Tuesday that Russia had bombed at least three Black Sea ports carrying goods to the rest of the world, including one chartered by an agribusiness company. Sherman said Ukraine had told its counterparts that “Russia is actively targeting grain silos and food storage facilities.” The Black Sea is an important shipping route for cereals, oil and petroleum products. Its waters are shared by Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Turkey, as well as Ukraine and Russia. Sherman said the Russian navy was blocking access to Ukrainian ports, effectively halting grain exports and reportedly blocking about 94 ships carrying world-class food to the Mediterranean. “It is not surprising that many shippers are now reluctant to send ships to the Black Sea, even to Russian ports, given the danger posed by Russian forces,” he said. Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, has denied Sherman’s statement. He accused Ukrainian troops and “nationalists” of firing on fleeing civilians, adding: “But today we are being told that we are bombing ships with grain as well as grain warehouses.” Ukraine on Wednesday accused Russia of planting mines in the Black Sea and said some of the munitions needed to be neutralized by Turkey and Romania as risks to vital merchant shipping in the region increased. read more Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Steve Holland and Michelle Nichols. Edited by: Heather Timmons and Leslie Adler Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
