UN food chief: Ukraine war’s food crisis is worst since WWII

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. food chief is warning that the war in Ukraine has created “a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe” and will have a global impact “beyond anything we’ve seen since World War II.” David Beasley is executive director of the U.N. World Food Program and says the crisis is because many of the Ukrainian farmers who normally produce a significant amount of the world’s wheat are now fighting Russians. Beasley told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that the war is turning “the breadbasket of the world to breadlines” for millions of Ukrainians. At the same time, he says, the crisis is devastating countries like Egypt and Lebanon, which usually rely on Ukraine for more than 80% of their wheat.