Blinken praises Ukrainian resilience as he tours Kyiv grain facility

15/5/2024 17:37

        U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday praised the resilience of Ukraine's grain production in the face of Russian attacks as he toured a U.S.-supported transshipment facility on the outskirts of Kyiv.
        
        Russia has struck ports and infrastructure since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, worsening a global food crisis, but grain exports have recovered amid Ukrainian attacks on Russia's Black Sea fleet.
        
        "Before 2022 Ukraine had been one of the breadbaskets of the world, and now it remains that, but only because of that incredible adaptation," Blinken said after watching grain being transferred to a truck for shipping out of Ukraine at a site supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
        
        "Getting the Black Sea corridor open again and moving the Russian navy out, finding new routes or expanding old ones like the Danube, like land crossings, and all of that has been the result of Ukrainian determination and ingenuity, but it's also been the result of support that Ukraine's received from the United States."