US Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture Cindy McCain said on Tuesday that the organisation estimates that as many 13-million more people worldwide will be pushed into food insecurity as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

McCain was speaking during a press briefing organised by Africa Regional Media Hub on the invasion and its impact on food security in Africa and beyond.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February, in what Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to as a special operation to eliminate what he called a serious threat, saying his aim was to demilitarise Russia's southern neighbour.

The invasion has killed thousands and left millions displaced.

She announced that the US government had invested heavily in resilience building programmes and had committed to providing more than $11-billion over the next five years towards food security and nutrition needs worldwide.

“The truth of the matter is that Putin’s war forces us to take from the hungry to feed the starving. As long as Russia continues, innocent people are going to pay the price,” McCain warned.  

She said the World Food Programme (WFP) was feeding 138-million people in more than 80 countries including Ethiopia, South Sudan and Nigeria.

Ukraine was a major source of wheat for the WFP before the invasion.

McCain said during her recent visit to Kenya and Madagascar, she saw some extremely vulnerable communities that would suffer even more because of Putin’s war.

She said Russia alone could stop the global catastrophe. 

She also recently visited Poland, where she said the humanitarian crisis had evolved into a global food security situation.

US Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) Bureau for Resilience and Food Security Assistant to the Administrator Dr Jim Barnhart said Putin’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine not only threatened the lives and livelihoods of everyday Ukrainians, but it was also impacting global food suppliers. 

He said with Russia and Ukraine as major suppliers of the world’s agricultural imports such as fertiliser, the effects of Putin’s war would reverberate for years to come.

Barnhart explained that before Russia invaded Ukraine, the food security context was already concerning due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, ongoing humanitarian emergencies, high global food prices and high fertiliser prices.

“Reduced food and supplies and subsequent price increases in these commodities make it harder for farmers in Zambia to access imports they need to plant their crops and for families in Malawi to buy nutritious food for their children,” he explained.

He warned that if not mitigated, increases in food prices could result in global poverty and hunger, as well as in malnutrition, particularly in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa.

He reminded delegates that from the last food crisis in 2007 to 2008, there was a destabilising impact on international order where food riots occurred in at least 14 African countries.

Barnhart stressed that even with the release of grain reserves or the cessation of hostilities, the impact would persist.

He urged the international community to work together to protect the most vulnerable.