The Biden administration is working to get temporary transport containers for Ukrainian grain to the United States, a stop gap measure as it seeks to mitigate a growing food crisis created by Russia months-long blockade of Ukrainian ports, according to senior administration officials.
The United States is sending storage containers to Ukraine to help salvage some of the 20 million tons of grain that are currently stuck inside the country. The containers will also help Ukraine load the grain onto trains or trucks once overland routes are established, a senior administration official explained.
Despite these efforts, the United States and its international partners are no closer to finding a quick and absolute solution to the Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports that has raised global food prices and threatens to cause a catastrophic food shortage in parts of the world.
Though the United States is working to open up overland routes for grain to get into neighboring countries, get containers into the country, and implement long-term changes meant to drive down global reliance on Ukrainian grain, many view these efforts as marginal fixes to a much larger problem that can’t be completely resolved until Russia eases its blockade of Ukraine’s biggest port in Odesa, which has been surrounded by Russian warships for months.
Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told CNN on Tuesday that the only option left to unblock the port of Odessa is to try, and see how to do it. Every option should be explored and if possible, every option should be used.
“If Russians don’t allow it,” Lithuanian President Landsbergis has said, “we need to, as a global community, find a solution to do it without Russian agreement.” UN and Turkish officials are preparing for separate rounds of diplomatic talks with Moscow over a new plan to try to open up sea routes for Ukrainian grains, sources say.
Meanwhile, millions of tons of grain remain stuck in Ukraine, stored in silos and at the port in Odesa. This has led to a dramatic spike in global food prices—and with fighting ongoing in eastern Ukraine, that’s likely to worsen as the war continues. Ukraine is the world’s fourth-largest exporter of corn and the fifth-largest exporter of wheat (according to the State Department), and the UN’s program to fight food insecurity buys about half of its wheat from Ukraine each year.