The European Union sees no threat to its food security in connection with the situation in Ukraine and will try to contribute to ensuring global food security, said EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski.
“Fortunately, we do not see a direct threat (food security) in European markets. The main problem on them is corn, which we import from Ukraine. It is important for feed production in Europe. But imports from Ukraine are still even larger than in previous years,” Wojciechowski said on Monday evening at a press conference following the meeting of the EU Council at the level of ministers of agriculture.
The central topic of the meeting was the threat of a global food crisis in connection with the Ukrainian issue.
The problem that the EU sees, according to the official, is to organize “corridors of solidarity” for grain supplies to third countries.
The meeting also presented a forecast for the grain harvest for the current year in the EU countries. It will be “for sure more than in 2021, and in 2023 the grain harvest will be no less than in 2022, subject to the same weather conditions.”
“In Europe, we have the necessary food security. (…) We must ensure that Europe contributes to global food security,” added the European Commissioner.
The United States authorities intend to send about $1.5 billion a month to Ukraine to support the work of the government, Dereck Hogan, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, said.
He said at a seminar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington they had already allocated $1 billion for these purposes through various mechanisms and intended to send about $1.5 billion more monthly during 4-5 months.
The official noted that direct support for Ukrainian authorities is one of the priorities of the administration of President Joe Biden.
He said that the US should take into account the medium and long term, and now the US efforts should be focused on ensuring the work of the government of Ukraine.
The United States and NATO allies are continuing massive arms and ammunition deliveries to Ukraine. Mykhailo Podoliak, the adviser to the head of the Ukrainian President Office’s, said earlier that Kyiv would like to receive 300 multiple launch rocket systems from the West.
At the same time, US officials, both former and incumbent, warn of the need to establish control over the use of aid provided by the United States to Kyiv.
The UK and Polish governments were the main suppliers of medical assistance to Ukraine in the past week, the press service of the Health Ministry of Ukraine has said.
The ministry said that the UK government and the Strategic Reserves Agency of Poland were the major suppliers.
The Health Ministry also noted assistance of the Embassy of Bulgaria in Ukraine, the Direct Relief international humanitarian aid organization, the Kyiv School of Economics Charitable Foundation, the Center of Volunteering and Protection charitable organization, One Ukraine, and Americares global non-profit organization.
The ministry reported that it received six ambulance vehicles, 1,000 packs of hemostatic gauze, 125 patient monitors, 7.5 tonnes of antibacterial agents, 153.5 tonnes of various medicines, 26.5 tonnes of drugs for Covid-19, 60 tonnes of personal protective equipment, and 5 tonnes of syringes from volunteers and partner countries over last week.
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia plans to receive 40 General Electric locomotives, engines for locomotives, etc. under the Lend-Lease program, Head of Ukrzaliznytsia Oleksandr Kamyshin has said.
At the same time, with the beginning of the active phase of the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine, the company managed to keep almost all of its rolling stock, unlike in 2014, when a significant part of the rolling stock remained on the lost territory, Kamyshin said in an interview with Forbes Ukraine.
According to him, in particular, out of 30 GE locomotives, 29 were taken out. The company failed to take one, as it was being serviced in a non-working condition in the Melitopol depot.
The head of Ukrzaliznytsia also said that the company is counting on increased state support, compensation from the Russian Federation and the Lend-Lease program.
“We have shaped a large list [for Lend-Lease]. Of the important, there is a request for 40 GE locomotives worth $250 million, engines for the modernization of our other locomotives, special vehicles for infrastructure restoration, and so on. Further, this list is approved by the working group. Let’s see what we can get it,” Kamyshin said.
He also said that now is not the time to raise passenger tariffs, but the compensation mechanism from the state still needs to be improved. At the same time, regarding tariffs for freight transportation, according to Kamyshin, the dialogue in the government is still ongoing.
The head of Ukrzaliznytsia also said that the operating gap in the company today is UAH 2-3 billion per month, and if the ports do not open, the company will not be able to close it on its own.
“We received a support program for UAH 10 billion from the state budget. It ended in May. Now we are talking about the second round of state financing before the end of the year. It will be bigger,” Kamyshin said.
He said that in the first days of the war, the daily load on the railway was reduced from 700,000 tonnes to 150,000 tonnes. In March, Ukrzaliznytsia transported 257,000 tonnes per day, in April – 295,000 tonnes per day, the company ended May with volumes of 300,000 tonnes per day.
The European Commission will insist on granting Ukraine the status of a candidate member of the EU, the final decision rests with the European Council, Politico reported.
“The European Commission will recommend granting Ukraine formal EU candidate status, according to several officials familiar with discussions that took place during a debate among commission members on Monday,” the statement said on Tuesday night.
The debate in the College of Commissioners followed a visit on Saturday by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Kyiv, where she discussed Ukraine’s membership bid with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zelenskiy and other Ukrainian officials have pushed for formal recognition as an EU candidate country, saying the appointment would provide an invaluable morale boost during the war. “They repeatedly noted that after the 2013-2014 Maidan revolution, the citizens of Ukraine repeatedly risked their lives – and indeed, thousands have now died – fighting for a free, democratic future in the EU,” the publication stressed.
“The Commission does not forget that Ukraine is the only country in Europe where people died, where people were shot because they were on the streets with EU flags. Now we cannot tell them: “Sorry guys, you were waving the wrong flag” , – quotes his source Politico.
It is noted that supporters of Ukraine’s bid said that any delay in granting candidate status would be deeply demoralizing for Ukraine, as invading Russian troops temporarily occupy large swaths of the south and east of the country and seek to capture the entire eastern region of Donbass.
During discussions about the status of the candidates for Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, many EU officials and diplomats noted the sensitivity, given the slow pace of accession of the Western Balkans, which was declared a candidate country more than 10 years ago.
“Monday’s debate among commissioners raised broader questions about what an enlarged EU might look like in the future, including whether there would still be one commissioner per member state. The discussion also touched on the possibility that the upcoming summit, some EU leaders may try to impose conditions on Ukraine’s candidacy or return to the idea of granting some new status that does not correspond to the official candidacy.
According to the information from the representative of the Elysee Palace, the status of the candidate, if it is granted, will be only the beginning of a much longer process.
“Once Ukraine potentially gets candidate status, we also have to see when negotiations start. And you know that the EU membership methodology provides for chapter-by-chapter negotiations and reversible negotiations depending on how the country develops. So there are requirements that are in line with EU standards. , and in any case they will be very demanding of Ukraine,” the spokesman said.
In Kyiv, Igor Zhovkva, deputy head of Ukrainian President Zelensky’s office, said there was no alternative to nominating a candidate. “We will not accept any alternatives, nor compromises, as some leaders tell us, nor deviations from this candidate status,” Zhovkva was quoted as saying by the publication.
Buckwheat groats have disappeared from the shelves of some Ukrainian stores due to the boom in demand for groats caused by the desire of the population to stock up on food supplies in the face of a full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, while after the harvest of buckwheat in Ukraine, the supply of buckwheat groats and its cost will stabilize at the level 65-70 UAH/kg.
The corresponding forecast was published on the website of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine on Monday.
According to her, the demand for buckwheat is caused by the panic of the population, which stocked up large volumes of all types of cereals during the war with the Russian Federation, while retail chains were unable to provide a corresponding increase in supply, as a result of which buckwheat temporarily disappeared from the shelves of some stores.
In addition, Ukrainians consume 3-4 kg of buckwheat per year, which is several times higher than the world average of 1.5 kg per year.
“Our harvest (2022 – IF) will provide up to 2.5 kg of buckwheat per citizen. This is not a critical situation, but we will have to wait for a new harvest. Starting from September, there will be price stability – at the level of 65-70 UAH per kilogram of buckwheat. This is if there are problems with imports. And if we provide enough imported cereals, the price of buckwheat can decrease to UAH 50 per kilogram, perhaps even less,” the NAAN website says.
According to him, in the conditions of a difficult sowing campaign during the war, Ukrainian farmers sowed enough buckwheat, and its harvest will approximately correspond to last year, perhaps by 10-15% less. However, this will be quite enough for the needs of Ukraine.
NAAN stressed that before harvesting its own harvest, Ukraine is forced to buy foreign buckwheat, which it now imports from Poland or Lithuania instead of Russian and Kazakh ones. At the same time, the price of imported cereals will be high due to expensive fuel, since it is imported to Ukraine mainly by road.
As reported, 74.9 thousand hectares have already been sown with buckwheat this season, which is 92% of the previously planned 81.6 thousand hectares.
