A Grain Deal In Ukraine Will Not Avert A Global Food Crisis

The deal was heralded as the breakthrough solution to looming world hunger, and the feared conflict and even mass migration that could follow in its wake.

- Bel Trew

But less than 24 hours after the Turkishbrokered agreement to open Ukraine's blockaded Black Sea ports was signed, Ukraine said Russia had bombed Odesa. Again.

The port is the country's largest and most important and was the main focus of the deal to restart Ukraine's stuck grain exports - a move which would help curb soaring global food prices. Under the terms of the agreement, a joint coordination centre staffed by members of the parties was to be set up to monitor ships transiting the Black Sea to Turkey's Bosphorus Strait, and off to world markets. All sides agreed on Friday there would be no attacks on these entities.

And so, bombing Odesa just a day later throws the entire deal into question and shatters any trust on the Ukrainian side. Kyiv said the missiles were fired from Russian warships near Crimea and said the attack would "spit in the face" of the UN's chief and the Turkish president who helped broker the agreement. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called it blatant "barbarism".

The UN, EU, US, Britain, Germany and Italy have condemned the strike. Turkey's defence minister said Russian officials had told Ankara that Moscow had "nothing to do" with the attack. So far, publicly, the Kremlin has been silent about the bombardment. But this firmly underlines the fact that this issue cannot be fixed with an export agreement.

The inability to export Ukraine's grain - and issues with Russian exports amid sanctions - has indeed dealt a blow to the world. Before Putin's invasion, Ukraine exported as much as six million tonnes of grain, cereals, and vegetable oils per month, as one of the main world suppliers of the West. In fact, the country feeds around 400 million people worldwide. But since February it has only managed to export 3 million tonnes in total.