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We've seen markets react in a pretty steady way so far on news of Russia pulling out of the deal yesterday. You saw markets go up a little bit, food prices increase, but then go back to previous level. So I don't think the crisis is today. I worry, though, that the crisis is coming. What Russia is doing is intentionally destroying the agricultural capacity of one of the world's most critical bread baskets. And the repercussions of that are going to be felt for months and years to come. So I think the world should be worried about food security.

We in the United States, I have to say, are in general somewhat awestruck by the range of capabilities that the Diia app already has. Every time we tell people about the more than 120 services that are available on the platform, Americans say to me, “where can we get Diia?” And I say, well, once Ukraine has won the war and completed its recovery and reconstruction, Mykhailo is going to be spending a lot more time in the United States. But the fact that you can do everything from access your passport, to create an online bank account, to apply for, and be vigilant about, construction permits – all of this is such an important multifaceted aspect of why Diia is so critical. 

So we, at USAID, we work with these soldiers of light to make sure that the infrastructure itself is prepared and our colleagues in the alliance that supports Ukraine, work on the battlefield efforts, the air defense, and other things to try to prevent Russia from being able to inflict so much damage.

Vladimir Putin may be willing to inflict this humanitarian pain on innocents but the United States is not. Today, I am pleased to announce an additional $250 million in new funding for AGRI-Ukraine. AGRI-Ukraine is USAID’s flagship Ukrainian agricultural initiative. AGRI-Ukraine, I launched one year ago.  With these new funds, we will build on the work that we have been doing in partnership with the Ukrainian government, with the transport and logistic industry, and with Ukrainian farmers. We will work to create and to expand alternative export routes for Ukrainian farmers. We will help modernize Ukraine's border crossings.

Odessa and the Black Sea are very critical for food security. You've got two big bread baskets, Russia and Ukraine, which both use the Black Sea and to be able to export vast amounts of wheat and grains and oils through the Black Sea. And Odesa is one of Ukraine's major ports. It has been operating at less than 15 percent capacity since Russia invaded. And that has only been because that 15 percent has been what they've been able to get out with this Black Sea Grain Initiative, which as you mentioned, Russia has now pulled out of so this is a very, very serious situation for world food security. So many millions of people depend on Ukrainian grain exports around the world and Ukraine tends to have less expensive grains to export and it goes to some of the poorest countries in the world, the Horn of Africa, countries in the Middle East, Yemen, Afghanistan, they've all been dependent on Ukrainian exports.

We are determined to stand with Ukrainian farmers as they continue to seek to get their goods to market and to get their goods to hungry people all around the world.