Race Against the Clock: Getting the Grain Out of Ukraine

Although no one expected it, the war in Ukraine is now approaching the end of its fourth month. Refugees continue to flee the country and calls for weaponry persist. President Zelenskyy and his leadership team are hanging tough, advocating for their citizens, and requesting as much military assistance as they can get from the rest of the world. But now the war in Ukraine is starting to claim casualties on foreign shores… not in the form of refugees, but in a hunger crisis of global proportions. Before the war, Ukraine was the 4th largest exporter of grain in the world. Now, 20 metric tonnes of grain are sitting in silos as hunger increases worldwide and the next crop not only has no place to go – if it can't be sold, there won't be funds to pay for next year's harvest. In this week's Dial P audio podcast, Kelly Barner considers the diplomatic, humanitarian, and logistics issues that have to be overcome to get the grain out of Ukraine: • Rail and sea options that all seem to have more negatives than positives • Countries and organizations like the United Nations that are getting involved in an effort to stave off famines • Bad actors in the region that the Western world may be tempted to deal with in order to prevent mass starvation