At the United Nations Security Council on Friday, Russia came under increasing pressure as several nations, including its ally China, called on Moscow to quickly restore Ukrainian grain shipments in order to avoid a global food crisis.
This came after Russia suddenly announced to halt of a crucial grain deal that allows the movement of agricultural goods from Ukraine to other countries.
UN council members also criticised Russia for attacking Ukrainian ports after halting the grain deal, which is a violation of international humanitarian law on destruction of civilian infrastructure, AP reported. The UN warned that Russia's declaration of marking areas in the Black Sea dangerous for shipping could have "catastrophic consequences."
China's deputy UN ambassador Geng Shuang said that he hoped Russia and the UN would work together to resume grain exports from both countries at "an early date" for maintaining international food security and alleviating the food crisis in developing countries.
On the other hand, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield sharply accused Russia of using the Black Sea as "blackmail", referring to increased grain exports from Moscow at higher prices, and called on all UN member states to urge the country to resume negotiations.
According to multiple media reports, wheat prices took a sharp jump of 3.5 percent barely minutes after the deal was stopped. Before the war, Russia and Ukraine together accounted for 25% of the global grain supply.
The same was highlighted by Gabon's ambassador to the UN, who underlined that grain deal had previously calmed the risk of food security across the world, especially in drought-affection areas in Africa.
Russia's action will certainly "amplify global socio-economic stresses in a world already grappling with a perfect storm of conflict, climate change," says Mozambique's UN Ambassador
"We strongly urge restraint from any further rhetoric or action that could deteriorate the already dangerous situation," said UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo on Russia's attacks on Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
The Russia-Ukraine grain deal
Termed as the 'Black Sea Grain Initiative', it allowed the export of 36.2 million tons of food from Ukraine to the world, especially African nations, as per UN. However, following the relentless war, Moscow blocked the route, resulting in spiralling costs of wheat, cereals and other agricultural products.
Russia'a action has grave consequences for Africa nations, as many countries are currently on the verge of starvation. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said that Moscow would return to the grain deal if some of its demands are satisfied.
Ukraine's reaction to the halting of grain deal
After the withdrawal, Russia said that it would consider any ship travelling to Ukrainian Black Sea ports as being laden with weapons and will be treated as a military target, a participant on Kyiv's side. Soon after, Ukraine announced that it will also treat ships travelling to Russian Black Sea ports as military targets.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Office has reacted sharply to the development and called it a "violation of international norms" and argued that "the Black Sea is not Russia's internal waters and is not subject to its jurisdiction".
What happened next?
Russia has followed its action of stopping the grain deal by initiating a series of attacks on Ukrainian port infrastructure and farm storage buildings, a move seemingly aimed at crippling the latter's food exports. Officials said that an "important infrastructure facility" has been destroyed in the port city of Odesa in Ukraine on Friday.
Russia targeted Ukrainian critical grain export infrastructure after threatening to retaliate over a claimed Ukrainian attack that damaged a crucial bridge between Russia and the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
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