KIGALI, June 23 (Reuters) – Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday that the UK was ready to help with demining operations on Ukraine’s southern coast and was considering offering insurance to ships to transport millions of tonnes of grain stranded in the country.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 and the blockade of its Black Sea ports have prevented the country, traditionally one of the world’s largest food producers, from exporting much of the more than 20 million tons of grain stored in their silos.
This has helped drive food prices to record highs and left tens of millions of people with eating difficulties, a crisis Western officials say could last two years.
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Turkey is trying to negotiate talks between the United Nations, Ukraine and Russia to create a possible safe maritime corridor in the Black Sea, but Moscow wants some Western sanctions to be lifted first to facilitate its exports of cereals and fertilizers.
“There is work to be done. We are working with the Turks and other European friends and allies to see what we can do,” Johnson told Reuters in an interview during a visit to Rwanda for a Commonwealth summit.
The London insurance market has placed the entire region on its high-risk list, which means shipping costs will rise.
Johnson said Britain was considering all options when asked if the government could offer sovereign guarantees for shipping insurance.
“What the UK can possibly offer, above all, is experience when it comes to maritime insurance and a lot of experience in transporting goods across disputed sea areas,” he said.
When asked if the UK was willing to help Ukraine demining the area, Johnson said: “Yes, I don’t want to go into technical or military details, but you can get it out of what we’ve already done in the supply of equipment to the Ukrainians to help protect themselves that we are certainly talking to them on a technical level to help demine Odessa. “
Any mine clearance effort would be the largest attempt since the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, and any project to clear Ukraine’s mines would take several months.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Thursday separately that urgent action was needed over the next month, before the next harvest, to maintain supply.
FOOD CRISIS
The United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union, which supply weapons to Ukraine, have accused Russia of fueling a food crisis by impeding Ukraine’s grain exports, which account for about a tenth of world wheat exports.
In a statement on Thursday afternoon, the UK pledged £ 372 million ($ 456 million) in aid to countries hardest hit by rising global food costs and fertilizer shortages, including £ 130 million for the World Food Program.
The UK said its funding will provide humanitarian aid to increase access to food in the hardest-hit African countries.
The head of foreign policy of the European Union said earlier this week that Russia was committing a war crime by blocking the export of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said this month that millions of people could starve to death due to the blockade of Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea, which he said had left the world “on the brink of a terrible crisis food “.
Russia denies responsibility for the food crisis and blames Western sanctions imposed on Moscow that have led to rising world food prices. He also says the West has spread lies about the causes of the crisis. Read more
While acknowledging that there were multiple factors why food inflation was so high, Johnson accused Putin of trying to get the world to “rescue” with the blockade.
“It’s absolutely inconceivable,” he said. “This supply could help people all over the world, it could help some of the poorest countries in the world.”
($ 1 = £ 0.8158)
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Additional report by Elizabeth Piper in London and Nishit Jogi in Bangalore; Edited by Alison Williams
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