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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has roiled global food and energy markets, exposing nearly a fifth of humanity to supply disruptions and the risks of poverty and hunger, UN chief Antonio Guterres warned on Wednesday.
The UN Secretary General said the invasion was “supercharging a three-dimensional crisis — food, energy and finance — that is pummelling some of the world’s most vulnerable people”.
He spoke as Russian forces continued shelling Ukrainian towns and cities in a war that began on February 24, killing thousands, hitting exports from “breadbasket” regions and prompting harsh sanctions against Moscow from mostly western nations.
“We are now facing a perfect storm that threatens to devastate the economies of developing countries,” Mr Guterres told reporters in New York.
“As many as 1.7 billion people — one third of whom are already living in poverty — are now highly exposed to disruptions in food, energy and finance systems that are triggering increases in poverty and hunger.”
A 22-page report released on Wednesday by the UN’s Global Crisis Response Group said 36 countries import more than half of their wheat from the breadbasket regions of Russia and Ukraine, where fighting has stopped farmers from planting crops.
They include many struggling and conflict-riven economies across the Middle East and Africa, including Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Syria, as well as wealthy importers in the oil-rich Gulf, such as Qatar and the UAE.
The British charity Oxfam said this week that Palestinian stockpiles of wheat could run out in three weeks because of 25 per cent price increases.
The group's country director Shane Stevenson said many Palestinians were “struggling to meet their basic needs".
Wheat prices have jumped by 30 per cent since the start of the year and fertiliser prices have doubled, the UN report says. Oil prices have surged by 60 per cent compared with last year, while natural gas prices have jumped by 50 per cent in recent months.
“As prices climb, so does hunger and malnutrition — especially for young children,” said Mr Guterres.
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A boy rides a bicycle past a house that was damaged by shelling in Andriivka village, not far from Kyiv. EPA -
A destroyed residential building in Mariupol, south-eastern Ukraine. Reuters -
Firefighters at work on the outskirts of Kharkiv, north-east Ukraine. EPA -
A torn Ukrainian flag in front of a ruined Mariupol apartment building. Reuters -
Residents who cleared debris after Russian shelling eat lunch outside a damaged building in Makariv, near Kyiv. EPA -
Children play with a therapeutic dog at a shelter organised by volunteers in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine. Reuters -
A girl stands by the door of a bunker in Severodonetsk, in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, as Russian troops intensify a campaign to take the strategic port city of Mariupol. AFP -
A firefighter at work following a missile attack near Kharkiv International Airport. Reuters -
A Ukrainian fighter walks in front of a destroyed house in Bohdanivka village, north-east of Kyiv. AFP -
Two women hug outside a heavily damaged apartment block following an artillery attack in Kharkiv. Reuters -
Ukrainian soldiers guard the village of Barvinkove, as Russia's invasion on Ukraine continues. Reuters -
Leonid Serdiuchenko, a Ukrainian commander, stands next to destroyed vehicles outside Barvinkove. Reuters -
A woman carries the portrait of Dmytro Stefienko, 32, a civilian killed during the war, during his funeral in Bucha, Ukraine. AP -
A Russian soldier collects weapons from inside the Mariupol drama theatre in Ukraine. AFP -
Relatives and friends attend the funeral of Andriy Matviychuk, 37, who served as a territorial defence soldier, who was captured and killed by the Russian army in Bucha, Ukraine. AP -
Anatoliy Morykin, 45, left, mourns the death of his mother, Valentyna Morykina, 82, who died in a retirement home in Bucha during the Russian invasion. AP -
Nadiya, 65, shows a hole in a wall of a building after shelling in Zalissya, Ukraine. EPA -
A booby trap found by locals near their home in Zalissya. EPA -
Debris of a school bus near a damaged school that was a base for Russian troops in Bohdanivka, Ukraine. EPA -
A man examines the debris of a destroyed Russian tank in Bohdanivka. EPA -
President Joe Biden speaks to the media before boarding Air Force One at Des Moines International Airport, en route to Washington. AP -
Valentina Saroyan sits in the basement of a school in Yahidne, near Chernihiv, Ukraine. AP -
Vasyl Cherepenko stands next to a mass grave at a cemetery in Yahidne, near Dnipro, Ukraine. AP -
Oksana, second from left, and Yevhen, right, talk with police officers next to their apartment building damaged by shelling in Irpin, Ukraine. AP -
Women bid farewell to relatives as they leave the Slovyansk central station in the Donbas region. AFP -
The partially destroyed Mariupol drama theatre in Ukraine, hit on March 16 by an air strike. AFP -
A man embraces his wife as she prepares to board a train at Slovyansk central station in the Donbas region. AFP -
A woman walks through a damaged apartment building after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP -
A missile pierces the road in front of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration building amid Russia's attack on Ukraine. Reuters -
A boy walks by unexploded Russian shells in the village of Andriyivka close to Kyiv, Ukraine. AP -
Ukrainian tanks move down a street in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP -
A man walks past a storage place for burned armed vehicles and cars, on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP -
Local residents stand on top of a Russian tank on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP -
Ukrainian families, who have fled Kherson amid the Russian invasion, watch a dolphin show at a hotel in Odesa, Ukraine. Reuters -
Residents stand outside their apartments as shops burn after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP -
Irina Szymanska holds her baby in a temporary shelter at the central train station for displaced people heading to Poland in Lviv, Ukraine. Getty Images -
A man walks in his yard, damaged by shelling, in the village of Andriivka, Ukraine. EPA -
Sixty-two-year-old Luba hugs a Ukrainian servicewoman in Andriivka. EPA -
A woman washes clothes in the yard of a ruined house in Andriivka. EPA -
Russian soldiers patrol a street in Volnovakha, in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic. The picture was taken during a trip organised by the Russian military. AFP -
Russian mine clearers search for explosive objects in a building the Russian authorities say was damaged by Ukrainian shelling. AFP -
A woman reads a book as residents find shelter from shelling in a metro station in Kharkiv. Reuters -
Firefighters try to contain a fire at a plant in Kharkiv following Russian shelling. Reuters -
Farm owner Zlobina Lubov tends to her animals in the village of Malaya Rohan, Ukraine. Reuters -
A bathtub is seen inside a building that was heavily damaged by shelling in Kharkiv. Reuters -
A man looks out of his window, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Borodianka. Reuters -
Soldiers 'came to my house and said go to the basement' Zinaida Makishaiva, 82, said, before they started to shoot around her. 'God saved my life,' she said. Reuters -
A mother waits for police officers to exhume the body of her son from a well at a fuel station in Buzova, Kyiv region. According to the head of the village, he was killed by Russian soldiers. Reuters
The study, titled the Global Impact of War in Ukraine on Food, Energy and Finance Systems, says many developing economies are being battered a second time after the ravaging effects of the coronavirus pandemic, supply line chaos and lockdowns.
“Many developing economies are drowning in debt, with bond yields already on the rise since last September, leading to increased risk premiums and exchange rate pressures,” said Mr Guterres.
“This is setting in motion a potential vicious circle of inflation and stagnation.”
Governments need to work together on “keeping a lid” on prices with a “steady flow of food and energy through open markets” and the lifting of export restrictions, said the former prime minister of Portugal.
Countries must “resist hoarding, and release strategic stockpiles and additional reserves” of food and energy, while shifting their economies to cleaner, renewable energy and supporting debt relief plans at this month’s World Bank meetings, he added.
The report makes no mention of the crippling economic sanctions that the US, Europe and others have imposed on Russia since it invaded Ukraine, which Moscow says is really to blame for supply shocks and inflation.
“Above all, this war must end,” said Mr Guterres.
“The people of Ukraine cannot bear the violence being inflicted on them. And the most vulnerable people around the globe cannot become collateral damage in yet another disaster for which they bear no responsibility.”
