After failing to conquer Ukraine by conventional means, Russia tried an energy war, seeking to hobble the power grid and freeze the nation into submission. Now it has launched a food war, wrote Julian Borger.
The mining of the Kakhovka dam in June threatens to turn southern Ukrainian farmland into a dustbowl. Since Moscow pulled out of an UN-brokered deal to allow Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea last month, it has announced a naval blockade of the country’s ports, and directly targeted food (destroying 220,000 tonnes of cereals awaiting export in silos) on the sea coast but also inland with attacks over the past two weeks on the Danube ports of Reni and Izmail.
By turning food into a weapon, Russia has resorted to one of the oldest forms of warfare; ancient armies burned the granaries of their foes to starve them into submission.
In this case, Ukraine’s economy has been further damaged and Russian exports have fetched higher prices. But the threat of starvation is thousands of miles away in the very poorest countries, which could be pushed further toward s famine by higher prices and fewer humanitarian deliveries.