Europe fears a devastating crisis with ripple effects could erupt as Russia’s war in Ukraine imposes a new blockade on the Black Sea, choking off a vital trade route.
The sense of alarm came to the fore on Wednesday during a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Ireland, marked by calls for an immediate ceasefire in the region.
"In the Black Sea, Russian strikes on grain ships could cause another worldwide food security shock," the EU's High Representative Kaja Kallas said.
Belgium's Maxime Prévot urged a "coordinated solution" to avert what he described as a threefold disaster: a collapse in Ukraine's state revenues, a global food crisis in Africa and an intensification of large-scale migration flows towards Europe.
"The blockages of grain and energy shipments in the Black Sea are not something we can simply watch from a distance either," he said.
