On Sunday, Pope Francis urged Russia to honor the agreement that allowed Ukrainian grain to be safely transported over the Black Sea to global markets.
The Ukraine grain deal was reached last year, allowing around 33 million tonnes of grain to leave Ukrainian ports, assisting in the stabilization of world food prices and the avoidance of shortages.
“I am calling on my brothers, the authorities in the Russian Federation, to re-establish the Black Sea initiative so that the wheat could be safely transported”, Francis said during his weekly Angelus prayer.
“We are constantly praying for martyred Ukraine, where the war is destroying everything, including the wheat, which is a major offence to God because wheat is his gift to feed humanity and the cries of millions of our brothers and sisters suffering from hunger are lifting to the sky,” he said.
Russia declined to renew a pact arranged by the UN and Turkey under which Ukrainian grain exports traveled via the Black Sea to reach global markets, particularly Africa, easing pressure on food prices two weeks ago.
Moscow withdrew from the pact after months of arguing that the provisions of the agreement that authorized Russian fertilizer exports were not honored.
Following Russia’s pullout, wheat prices have risen.