Russian missile attacks leave few options for Ukrainian farmers looking to export grain (Associated Press) 

Three Russian cruise missiles struck hangars and silos in Ivushka as well as the main port in Odesa. The strikes in mid-July destroyed a large portion of the stock, days after Russia abandoned the grain deal that would have allowed the shipments across the Black Sea without fear of attack, writes the Associated Press in a piece on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the latest news.

The Black Sea handled about 95% of Ukrainian grain exports before Russia’s invasion and the U.N.-brokered initiative allowed Ukraine to ship much of what farmers harvested in 2021 and 2022, said Joseph Glauber, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Those are now the only routes to ship grain, but have stirred divisions among nearby European countries and generated higher costs to be absorbed by Ukrainian farmers, said Glauber

“I think you’re looking at a diminished Ukraine for at least the next couple of years and maybe longer,” said Glauber. “That’s something the rest of the world just needs to make up.”

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