Security Council debates Russian withdrawal from crucial Ukraine grain deal

The war in Ukraine has had very significant implications for global food insecurity, the top UN humanitarian official told the Security Council on Friday, underscoring the critical need to extend landmark agreements to export grain and fertilizer from the region. 

As part of ongoing international efforts to address growing concerns over global food security linked to the war in Ukraine, a top UN official on Wednesday urged countries not to slap restrictions on the export of foodstuffs that are in such short supply elsewhere.

Exports of Ukrainian grain and other foodstuffs under a landmark UN-brokered agreement have surpassed one million metric tonnes, the Coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Amir Abdulla, reported on Saturday.