Western condemnations continued for Russia's decision to suspend the agreement to export grain from Ukrainian ports in response to an attack on its fleet in Crimea, and US President Joe Biden said that the decision was "outrageous" and led to an increase in starvation, as he put it.

Biden denounced Russia's position, saying, "There is no reason to do this. They are always looking for reasons to say that what led to them doing something terrible is that they were pushed to do so by the West."

Likewise, the White House said that Russia was using food as a weapon, which was also reiterated by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

"Any action by Russia to disrupt these important grain exports is in fact a statement that people and families around the world must either pay more for food, or starve," Blinken said in a statement.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the United Nations and Western powers to respond forcefully to the Russian decision, calling for Russia to be excluded from the G20.

idle exports

In his evening speech via video on Saturday, Zelensky said that the Russian decision is currently disrupting the export of more than two million tons of grain to about 7 million people around the world.

He said, "Algeria, Egypt, Yemen, Bangladesh and Vietnam... these and other countries may suffer from an aggravation of the food crisis deliberately provoked by Russia."


"Why can a handful of people somewhere in the Kremlin decide whether there will be food on the tables of people in Egypt or Bangladesh?" Zelensky asked.

On Saturday, Russia announced the suspension of its participation in the agreement signed under the auspices of the United Nations in Istanbul on July 22 to export grain from Ukrainian ports;

In response to the Ukrainian attack by drones on its fleet in the Crimea.

Russia told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres - in a letter - that it will suspend the agreement indefinitely, because it cannot "guarantee the safety of civilian ships" sailing under this agreement.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukrainian forces used 16 drones in their attack on ships of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea, in the early hours of Saturday morning, and that experts from the British Navy helped coordinate this "terrorist" attack. .

Russia blames Britain

A spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense said that British military experts managed the attack from Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, noting that the same British team participated in the planning and execution of the bombing of Nord Stream gas pipelines.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that it is working with the relevant Russian departments to take practical steps to respond to the participation of these experts in the attack on Sevastopol.


Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that her country intends to draw the attention of the international community to Britain's involvement in a series of "terrorist" attacks.

The Russian Deputy Representative to the United Nations announced that Moscow had requested a meeting of the Security Council after the attack on the Black Sea Fleet in the port of Sevastopol.

The British Ministry of Defense responded to the Russian accusations with a statement saying that this "innovative version" was nothing but a fabrication to cover up Moscow's handling of the war in Ukraine, as it put it.