Ukraine’s food supply system is falling apart under Russia’s invasion, with infrastructure destroyed and shops and warehouses growing empty, the United Nations said on Friday.
Russia fired missiles at an airport near Lviv on Friday, a city where hundreds of thousands found refuge far from Ukraine’s battlefields, as Moscow tries to regain the initiative in its stalled campaign against Ukraine.
U.S. President Joe Biden was due to talk with Chinese president Xi Jinping, in an attempt to starve Russia’s war machine by isolating Moscow from the one big power that has yet to condemn its assault.
Russian troops have taken heavy losses while blasting residential areas to rubble, sending more than 3 million refugees fleeing. Moscow denies it is targeting civilians in what it calls a “special operation” to disarm its neighbour.
At least three blasts were heard near Lviv’s airport on Friday morning. The mayor, Andriy Sadovy, said several missiles had struck an aircraft maintenance facility, destroying buildings but causing no casualties.
Jakob Kern, Emergency Coordinator for the crisis at the United Nations’ World Food Programme, said Ukraine’s “food supply chain is falling apart. Movements of goods have slowed down due to insecurity and the reluctance of drivers”.
WFP, which feeds people in global crisis zones, also buys nearly half of its wheat from Ukraine. Kern said that the war has already pushed up global prices to an all time high, and could cause “collateral hunger” in poor countries worldwide.
