The Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine, Markiyan Dmytrasevych, accused this Tuesday (30) Russia of having stolen “between 800 one thousand and 800 thousand tons of grain”, subject that is being evaluated by the Ministry of Justice and also discussed at the diplomatic level.
“We have different estimates, of 500 thousand tons and 800 thousand tons”, said the minister, during a speech through video conference, at an event held in Brussels, Belgium.
The deputy The minister addressed the challenges facing Ukraine – which until before the war was the largest grain producer in the world – to continue producing and exporting in the difficult current circumstances.
Dmytrasevych highlighted, on the one hand, that the sea routes – initiated after the agreement between the Ukrainian and Russian authorities, thanks to the mediation of Turkey and the UN – cannot be considered stable.
On the so-called “ways of solidarity”, which he defends the European Union to be able removing grain by rail and road, the deputy minister stated that there had been “a lot of progress”, especially thanks to the cooperation of Poland and Romania, which reduced bureaucracy to allow transit.
However, stated Dmytrasevych, problems for export persist, for example, with a large part of Ukrainian agricultural land having been mined.
In addition, the deputy minister recalled the scarcity of fertilizers and indicated that, despite the Ukraine is trying to produce with less of these substances, there is a risk that next season there will be from 30% to 60% less cultivated land.
Dmytrasevych made the remarks during a food security conference held at the Brussels Press Club, which discussed the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on global food security.
