Target: General Tod D. Wolters, Supreme Allied Commander for NATO
Goal: Assist and enable unobstructed grain exports from Ukrainian ports.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president leading his nation through an unprovoked Russian invasion, warns of generations-long effects of the war rippling across the entire world. One of the most urgent of these threats is what President Zelensky calls a “hunger catastrophe.” Russian forces are reportedly preventing 22 million-plus tons of food, including massive grain exports, from leaving the country. Some reports have even emerged of troops destroying and stealing from Ukrainian farms where these critical supplies are produced. Several major port cities are currently under siege or Russian control.
Ukraine, often dubbed the “breadbasket of the world,” is a vital contributor to the global food supply chain. Wheat, barley, sunflower oil and seeds, millet, honey, and walnuts are particularly prominent among Ukrainian exports. The absence of these food supplies has dramatically increased shortages and driven up prices in numerous countries. In the most tragic cases, nations that rely on these supplies to feed their people are being driven ever closer to deadly famine.
The United Nations World Food Programme is already warning of the devastating impacts in Africa and the Middle East: Ukraine’s main importers. In total, food from this country helps feed nearly half a billion people every year. Even worse, due in large part to the crisis in Ukraine the World Food Programme itself is being forced to redirect resources and life-sustaining aid from regions that were already in the grip of a hunger crisis.
Sign the petition below to demand world leaders ensure these essential food supplies reach the people whose lives and livelihoods depend on them.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear General Wolters,
Over twenty million metric tons of grain are sitting in storage facilities across Ukraine. These supplies will not last forever, and farmers under siege from an invading nation are already losing out on crucial opportunities to replenish their crops. Meanwhile, the underfunded and undersupplied World Food Programme is being forced to literally take food from one hungry population to feed another desperately hungry population.
Many concerns have been raised about stoking a global conflict with “too much direct involvement” in the Ukraine conflict, but the catastrophic domino effect of inaction is already becoming global. Because of this unprovoked invasion, as many as half a billion people will go without crucial food supplies this year. How many famines, and how many deaths, will need to occur before doing nothing is seen as equally high-risk as doing something? This organization’s former supreme allied commander has recommended, at the very least, escort convoys for Ukrainian shipments currently under Russian blockade.
Please give this option serious consideration and explore all avenues for liberating food supplies that could save millions from the brink of starvation.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Tetyana Kovyrina
1113 Signatures