UN ambassador: Global food shortages reached highest level

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Global food shortages have reached the highest level of alarm due to the war in Ukraine, according to the US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

“I can tell you on a scale of one to 10, I’m probably at the 10 level of alarm, because this crisis has exacerbated what is already a serious food insecurity issue,” Thomas-Greenfield said in an interview on Friday with the BBC.

In the US alone, consumer food prices made the largest jump in April since 1981, sliding up by 9.4%.

Thomas-Greenfield noted that food insecurity existed before the war in Ukraine started and was serious, but the ongoing situation severely worsened the global crisis.

“Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, its blockade of the ports, blocking Ukrainian wheat from getting to the market has exacerbated this situation and made it even more dire and the impact is being felt across the world,” she said.

Ways to aid food insecurity around the globe were discussed by Thomas-Greenfield, on which she blamed Russia, saying that “first and foremost, we have to keep the pressure on the Russians to end this unconscionable war against the Ukrainian people and allow Ukraine to go back to a situation where they are contributing to the food market around the world," completely overlooking and without any mention to the repercussions of the draconian lists of packages imposed on Russia, targeting even the tiniest fields and sectors; 

“We encourage countries not to put export restrictions on food coming from their countries,” she added. “The U.S. just gave $44 million to Ukraine, a large portion of that going toward humanitarian assistance," she claimed.