U.S. General Says Helping Ukraine Get Around Russian Grain Blockade Is Urgent

On May 26th, commander of all U.S. Army forces in Europe and Africa, Christopher Cavoli, proposed to the Senate Armed Services Committee that Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s grain exports would enable various terrorist groups around the world to benefit and create issues, so U.S. forces would need to step in to ensure the stability of global food markets.

Terrorist groups such as Islamic State, al-Shabab and Boko Haram will all profit from the food shortages caused by the Russian-Ukrainian war, so at some point, U.S. forces will need to step in to guarantee Ukraine’s resumption of exports, Cavoli said. Although Romania has opened the Black Sea port of Constanta for Ukrainian grain exports, the port exports only 90,000 tons a day, which is far from enough for the normal export of Ukraine’s 22 million tons of stranded grain. For this reason, it is recommended that the U.S. military use several combinations of transportation modes to get around the Russian grain blockade.

Ukraine is the world’s largest exporter of sunflower oil, the fourth largest exporter of corn, and the fifth largest exporter of wheat. Currently, Russian forces control one-third of the sea traffic in the northern Black Sea and are blackmailing the world with the food crisis. Putin’s government recently threatened that unless Western sanctions against Russia are lifted, Ukrainian grain cargo ships will not be allowed to leave the port.