First UN humanitarian food aid set to leave Ukraine for Africa

Ethiopia is expected to receive more than 23,000 metric tons of grain in the first food aid delivery to Africa under a U.N. plan to unblock grain trapped by Russia’s war on Ukraine and bring relief to some of the millions worldwide on the brink of starvation.

Previous ships with grain that were allowed to leave Ukraine under the deal were not humanitarian, and their cargoes had been purchased by other nations or vendors.

The ship MV Brave Commander arrived in Ukraine on Friday . After being loaded with wheat it will travel to Djibouti, where the grain will be unloaded and sent to Ethiopia, according to the United Nations.

Ethiopia along with Somalia and Kenya, is facing the region’s worst drought in four decades, hence causing serious humanitarian challenges.

So far, not less than 20 million metric tons of grain has been unable to leave Ukraine since Russia’s February invasion of the country.

On July 22nd, Kyiv and Moscow signed a landmark agreement brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to unblock Black Sea grain deliveries.

Russia and Ukraine jointly produce nearly a third of global wheat supplies. In 2019 Ukraine accounted for 16% of the world’s corn supplies and 42% of sunflower oil, according to UN data.