The EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell repeated warnings of global food shortages due to the war in Ukraine, one of the world's biggest grain producers, as grains can currently not be exported or won't be harvested or planted due to ongoing fighting.
"Food is missing and will be missing. And when it's not missing it is expensive, much more expensive [than what] many people can afford," Borrell said in a press conference after a meeting of EU development ministers to discuss the worsening situation.
"If [affected people] spend more resources on food, they have less for education and health, and this will deepen poverty and inequalities," Borrell said.
Borrell also stressed that the looming food crisis is caused by Russia's war and not by the EU's sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, as claimed by the Kremlin.
