Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to have declared open season on Ukraine’s consequential grain exports. Putin says he wants payback for damage to a nearly 12-mile bridge that connects annexed Crimea to the Russian mainland. The attacks on Odesa, meanwhile, targeted the city’s port, a key piece of infrastructure where Russia had allowed grain to be exported as part of the deal brokered last July by the U.N. and Turkey. Russia, by the way, was already smarting over Turkey’s decision to allow Sweden to enter NATO, apparently alongside promises by the US to let Turkey buy F-16 fighter jets. “The idea that Putin would play roulette with the hungriest people in the world at the time of the greatest food crisis in our lifetimes is just deeply disturbing,” U.S. aid chief Samantha Power told CNN’s Alex Marquardt. “If you are a bully and an aggressor, it is always easier to lob missiles and send drones at civilian infrastructure,” Power said. “I think we absolutely should expect the worst from the Russian Federation as it continues to struggle on the battlefield,” she added. “It is going to require pressure not only from the United States and the United Nations, but from those countries in sub-Saharan Africa who will suffer most from the higher grain and oil prices,” she said. A breakdown of the grain deal would turn a “crisis of affordability into a crisis of affordability,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in November. The deal’s collapse would “hit those on the brink of starvation” if farmers couldn’t get the fertilizers they needed ahead of planting season, Guterre said. It’s unclear if Russia will rejoin the deal, which was brokered by the UN and Turkey last July. It was supposed to be exempt from Western sanctions, but Russia has cited obstacles to its own exports as a reason to pull out of the Ukraine grain deal. Wheat and corn prices on global commodities markets jumped Monday after Russia pulled out, and they spiked again Wednesday after attacks on the ports in Odes a. Watch his report on the attacks and their effect on the worldwide food supply on CNN’s “What Matters” on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET. A version of this story appears in ‘s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. The Food Security Information Network defines acute food insecurity as lacking enough enough food to the extent that it puts the person’s life or livelihood at risk. The FSIN defines the extent of food insecurity in nearly 84 million people, according to a report by the Food Security Network, a data-sharing platform funded by the European Union and the EU. The report also defines the level of food security as lacking. enough enough to the amount of food to meet the needs of the people in a country’s need for the day. It also defines “acute food insecurity” in countries, affecting nearly 27 million people.
Putin’s latest move will reverberate around the world. The Russian president’s move will be felt around the globe. The move will also be felt in the U.S.
