Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal: Russia has stolen $1 billion worth of Ukrainian grain since the beginning of the war

Russia has already stolen grain worth approximately $1 billion from the occupied territories of Ukraine, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said at the 2nd international summit “Grain from Ukraine” in Kyiv on Saturday.

“The Russians have prepared technical means to steal and take away 12,000 tons of grain every day from the captured territories. They succeeded only partially, because the heroic resistance of the Ukrainians forced the enemy to retreat. But the amount of stolen goods is impressive – it is millions of tons of grain worth about $1 billion. Russia’s robbery of Ukraine continues even now,” the head of government said.

Shmyhal is convinced that Ukraine will continue to be one of the guarantors of global food security.

“The current harvest forecast in Ukraine is more than 79 million tons. This is 10% more than what we collected last year. For domestic needs, 25% of the harvested grain is enough for us. We can and will send the rest to places where there is a threat of famine,” he said. Shmygal

The Prime Minister reminded that 30 states and international organizations joined the Grain from Ukraine 2022 program initiated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyі, which collected $180 million for the purchase of Ukrainian grain.

According to his information, Ukraine sent 170,000 tons of food to Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya. Another 25,000 tons will soon be sent to Nigeria.

The head of government called for more active participation in this initiative, to support the Ukrainian Peace Formula and to promote its implementation.

“The world must once and for all stop Russia’s barbaric practice of genocidal starvation. Russia must be severely punished. The highest political leadership of Russia should be tried not only for the act of aggression, for the shelling of peaceful towns and villages, for the kidnapping of Ukrainian children, for the massacre in Buch and Izyum, but also for the theft of Ukrainian grain, for blocking Ukrainian ports, for trying to revive Stalin’s methods of the Holodomor in 21st century. There should be a clear legal answer – a special tribunal for representatives of the Putin regime,” Shmyhal is convinced.