As Russian forces refocus the brunt of their military assault on Ukraine’s food-producing southeast, U.S. officials and lawmakers are struggling to help ward off a deepening crisis both inside Ukraine and for fragile economies around the world already reeling from climate disasters and Covid-19.

Russia’s military is pushing further into Ukraine’s wheat fields, which could jeopardize millions of tons of grain set to be harvested in July — threatening sustained shortages in countries across Africa and the Middle East that rely on Ukraine as a major source of their grain and sunflower oil to feed millions of people. The crisis has also contributed to sky-rocketing grain prices, which has made it harder for humanitarian organizations like the United Nations’ World Food Program, to respond; the agency says it needs an additional $16 billion to feed a record 137 million people for the rest of the year.



Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the U.N. Security Council Tuesday that Moscow has provoked “a global food crisis that could lead to famine in Africa, Asia and other [regions] and large scale political chaos in many countries.”

White House and State Department officials are working with USAID and WFP to counteract the shortages, and President Joe Biden has pledged $1 billion in humanitarian assistance “for those affected by Russia’s war in Ukraine and its severe impacts around the world.” But after Congress approved $4 billion in humanitarian assistance for Ukraine and refugees in nearby countries in the omnibus spending package last month, many GOP lawmakers have little political appetite for further global food aid funding. And while the administration has some resources it can tap without Congress to send American-grown food to regions in need, agricultural realities, including widespread drought last year, the timing of the planting season and the rising cost of inputs such as fertilizer and fuel, limit how much U.S. crops can help fill the gap created by the crisis in Ukraine.

According to two people familiar with the plans, the administration plans to unlock additional international food aid in the coming days, including the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust — a federal cash reserve of $260 million the government keeps to buy U.S. grain and other commodities to send to foreign countries in crisis. Lawmakers are pressing Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to approve a withdrawal of the funds for USAID, which first needs to formally request it. But congressional aides acknowledge the available funding is a drop in the bucket compared to the total aid that’s needed.

Meanwhile, a push for Congress to provide additional foreign aid fell apart this past weekend. A small group of senators were trying to revive efforts to squeeze $1 to 2 billion in international funding into a Covid-19 package, including some $200 million in global food aid. But the plan crumbled after Republicans rejected Democrats’ suggested methods to pay for the aid and several Republicans demanded the Biden administration reverse a move to lift a Trump-era deportation policy for migrants, the Title 42 public health order being enforced at the southern border, according to three congressional aides.

Sen. Chris Coons speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing.
Sen. Chris Coons speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 23, 2022. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo

Chris Coons (D-Del.), one of the senators pushing for the additional food aid, lamented the move as “a serious mistake” and argued that “mass starvation is a real, impending threat.” On top of that, Coons, Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and other like-minded senators are warning that such widespread food shortages could trigger mass migration and political destabilization across North Africa and the Middle East, which could in turn threaten U.S. national security. Coons said he will push for a stand-alone bill with global vaccine and food aid funding.



“We see the storm coming and we feel underprepared to deal with this,” said a senior Senate aide.

Sens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the top lawmakers on the Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter Tuesday asking the Biden administration to develop a strategy to address the global food insecurity fallout, including “fully leveraging” the the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust and other programs. But they stopped short of calling for additional funding from Congress.

Officials at the State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs are tracking the global food insecurity fallout from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Vulnerable groups, particularly in the Middle East and Africa, are at higher risk because of Russia’s war,” said Ramin Toloui, who heads the bureau.

Toloui said U.S. diplomatic posts are in close contact with countries whose people are at risk of increased food insecurity and American officials are working with allies, multilateral agencies and international financial institutions to address food insecurity.

We see the storm coming and we feel underprepared to deal with this.

Senior Senate aide

U.S. officials are particularly concerned about countries such as Afghanistan and Yemen, which are already suffering severe hunger crises, as well as Lebanon, where three-quarters of the population lives in poverty. The latter country, already in an economic free fall, received about 80 percent of its grain from Russia and Ukraine before the war. In another blow, Lebanon can only store about one month’s worth of wheat after the 2020 Beirut blast that destroyed its major grain silos.

With shortages stacking up, the U.S. is pressing India, Argentina, China and other countries with significant grain reserves to donate some of their supply to the World Food Program or at least release it into global markets. Biden, after meeting with G-7 leaders late last month, warned of “real” food global shortages. Biden added that the U.S. and Canada, two major grain exporters, discussed how the two countries could send more grain abroad to help fill supply gaps.

But as U.S. officials are working to alleviate shortages, they’re running into other challenges: namely that global wheat reserves, including in the U.S., are running lower than normal after record drought last year. Governments with grain surpluses have been reluctant to release too much of their supply, including Canada.

The higher demand for wheat, corn and other food supplies are also hitting at a time when farmers across the world are under immense financial pressure from high costs for fuel, fertilizer, seed and other agricultural inputs.

Cecilia Rouse speaks during a press briefing at the White House.
Cecilia Rouse, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Monday, March 28, 2022, in Washington. | Patrick Semansky/AP Photo

In the U.S., Cecilia Rouse, chair of Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers, indicated to reporters last week that the White House expected U.S. farmers to increase production in order to benefit from higher commodity prices, which shot up after Russia invaded Ukraine.