“There is no reason other than the exclusion of Ukraine from Russia and the refusal of Russia, in many cases, to export grain for political reasons,” said Anthony Blinken.
Russia’s war on Ukraine, not Western sanctions, will add another 40 to 50 million people to the ranks of those affected by the famine, the US Secretary of State warned on Friday. Anthony Blinken in Berlin.
“There is no reason other than the exclusion of Ukraine from Russia and the refusal of Russia, in many cases, to export grain for political reasons,” Anthony Blinken said in a joint interview with German counterpart Analena Berbock.
For her part, Burbok said international partners were working together to tackle Russia’s cynical and potentially destabilizing grain war and the ensuing propaganda.
Ukrainian official: Unfortunately we are losing to Russian forces in the east
An area south of the city of Lysichank in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine had been “completely occupied” by Russian forces, a local Ukrainian official said in the meantime.
“Unfortunately, as of today, the entire Hirsch region is occupied,” Hirsch’s municipal head Oleksiy Babchenko said in a televised statement. “There are some insignificant, local battles going on in the suburbs, but the enemy has entered.”
The loss of Hirsch and several other settlements around it threatens to blockade Lisichank, the last large Ukrainian-controlled city of Luhansk, on three sides by Russian forces.
The Russian Defense Ministry said today that it had been surrounded 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers, including 80 foreign fighters in Hirsch. Reuters could not confirm the report from another source.
Ukraine today hinted that its troops were withdrawing from the “twin” city of Lysitshank, Sheverodonetsk, the scene of weeks of heavy bombardment and street fighting, in a major setback in its fight against Russian forces.
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