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Ukraine investigating Russia grain strikes as potential war crimes – JURIST

Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General announced Friday it would investigate whether recent Russian attacks on Odessa and other Black Sea ports constitute war crimes, according to a report from Reuters. The ports are major exporters of grain, a key food source for some of the world’s poorest countries.Russia attacked the ports despite co-signing the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July 2022, which was meant to provide protection to Black Sea grain suppliers. Russian attacks on grain storage facilities and other port infrastructure have allegedly destroyed as much as 180,000 tons of grain. This has caused grain prices to spike, impacting several countries in Africa that rely on the shipments. According to US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, one strike destroyed of over 40,000 tons of grains in a 24 hour period. Three people died as a result of the strikes.The loss of inventory caused wheat and corn prices to jump 10 percent across the global south. The attacks have also destabilized an already fragile Ukraine agricultural sector. Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General said there are so many potential Russian war crimes to investigate that they had to ask Ukraine’s Parliament to amend the Criminal Procedure Code to allow investigators longer investigation terms.Yet the situation has benefited Russia, allowing their grain exporters to fill the gap. At a recent Russia-Africa summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to gift “free” grain to African countries impacted by the price hikes through a UN food program.Russia has also defended the attacks, saying the international community should not condemn them. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin claimed the attacks were “retribution” for a recent Ukrainian strike on a key bridge to the Crimean peninsula.