Russia launched a round of missile and drone strikes on the Ukrainian port of Odesa on Wednesday, hours after the U.S. Agency for International Development announced a $750 million humanitarian and agricultural aid package following Moscow’s decision to pull out of a Black Sea grain deal.
The attack, the second in two days, damaged grain elevators and warehouses at the port, nearby residences and shopping centers. At least 10 civilians, including a 9-year-old boy, were wounded in the attack, Ukrainian officials said.
“This is another Russian attempt to use hunger and destabilization of the global food market as a weapon,” Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy said on his Telegram social media page. “The terrorist state has endangered the lives of 400 million people in various countries that depend on Ukrainian food exports.”
The USAID package will include $500 million for humanitarian assistance and $250 million to help support Ukraine’s farmers.
During a Tuesday press conference in Odesa, USAID Administrator Samantha Power said almost two-thirds of Ukraine’s wheat exports through the Black Sea grain initiative have gone to developing countries that have been hard hit by the weather.
“In Somalia and Ethiopia and Kenya, where much of this grain goes, that region suffered six failed rainy seasons,” Ms. Power said. “In Somalia, that drought has killed as many as 43,000 people last year alone. So this is a life and death decision that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has made.”
Mr. Putin complained that the deal prevents Russia from exporting its own grain and said Kyiv shouldn’t benefit from the grain initiative because Ukraine is the aggressor in the war.
“This is obviously a ludicrous claim from the leader of a country that has invaded and committed countless acts of aggression and atrocity against its smaller neighbor,” Ms. Power said.
The U.S. will provide Ukrainians with additional grain elevators, scales and lab-testing materials to help speed up the process of getting grain onto transport. Washington also will help them store any grain they can’t immediately sell.
“We have a collective interest in ensuring that Ukrainian farmers stay in business,” Ms. Power said.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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