The warning comes as Russia launched a major aerial attack on Kyiv this week, killing at least 23 (Image: Getty)
An NGO has warned of growing food insecurity in Ukraine due to rising inflation and expressed fears over potentially “serious” shortages. Hope For Ukraine says it is experiencing a greater demand for its food aid, including in western areas of the country furthest away from the frontline, as this week Russia launched one of its biggest aerial attacks of the war so far.
The organisation’s CEO Yuriy Boyechko said lines for food are getting “longer and longer”, with elderly people particularly affected and struggling to deal with the rising costs. He said: “People have this inner feeling that something’s not going right because we have people trying to grab and hold on every piece of basic staple you give to them. I hope I’m wrong but I do think there’s going to be serious shortages and price increases on basic things.
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Yuriy Boyechko said the elderly displaced are most likely to be affected by the issue (Image: Getty)
“People are struggling to buy basic things right now. So, imagine if prices go up another 100 to 200% by the end of the year?
“It’s going to price out a whole group of millions of people, the internally displaced elderly. So what are they going to do? Their only hope is going to be to rely on food giveaways from organisations like ours.”
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) earlier this year said nearly one third of the Ukrainian population in the frontline regions are food insecure.
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Queues for Hope For Ukraine’s food aid in these areas remain “steadily high”, according to Mr Boyecheko, with the group estimating staples such as a loaf of bread, sunflower oil and eggs have increased by 112%, 111% and 150% respectively since 2022.
Natalia Oleksando, 52, from near Lviv in western Ukraine, said getting food on the table for her family is becoming a “real problem”.
She told the Express: “A few years [ago], everything used to be in stores and people had more money to buy stuff. But now we’re going back in time and now everybody, including my family, we start pickling everything.
“Every little bit of leftover meat we have, we’re trying to put that in a can… we know it’s going to be much harder times that we haven’t seen in Ukraine for a long time.”
Some of Ukraine’s most fertile land has been lost due to the war and Mr Boyechko also expressed concerns that locust swarms in the south of the country could have affected some harvests which were previously predicted to be higher than expected.
Volodymyr Bugai said some farms have had poor harvests (Image: WFP/Sayed Asif Mahmud)
Farmers in the Zaporizhzhia region reported up to a third of their sunflower crops had been destroyed by the insects.
The locusts are believed to have begun breeding in swampy areas created after the Kakhovka Dam was blown up by Russia two years ago.
A Ukrainian minister this week said grain production is projected to be “slightly below” last year, while corn is expected to be higher.
Volodymyr Bugai, 39, runs a farm in the southern Mykolaiv region which was previously under occupation and around 18 miles from the current frontline.
He told the Express that fellow farmers he knows in the area have harvested “three times less” than last year.
Russian mines are also impacting farmers, Serhii Kokhan, 48, has only just been able to work on his farm again after 318,923 square metres of his land in Kharkiv Oblast was cleared of the explosives following assistance from the WFP.
He said there is a “lack” of farm workers in Ukraine and logistics are difficult due to “destroyed” roads in the area from the war.
Serhii Kokhan said “everything was destroyed” after Russian forces entered (Image: WFP/Sayed Asif Mahmud)
Ukraine is one of the most productive farming regions in the world and is an important part of European food security.
Dr Rachel Duffy, a lecturer at the University of Kent who has extensively researched agriculture and food supply chains, warned issues in Ukraine could also be felt in the UK.
She said: “It’s often referred to as the ‘breadbasket of Europe’, as it’s a major exporter of cereals such as wheat and maize as well as supplying over 80% of the EU’s sunflower oil.
“The war in Ukraine has led to a fall in production and export of these key commodities. As a result, farmers are facing higher production costs for key inputs such as animal feed and consumers are seeing higher prices for staples like bread, cooking oil, and meat.
“The impact is being felt not only at the checkout but across the broader food economy — from manufacturing delays to reduced product availability.”
Mr Boyechko said Hope For Ukraine has always prioritised local produce in its food aid but this has become increasingly difficult due to cost increases.
“We bring in [more] rice now from India and Paraguay to close some of the gap,” he added.
The warning comes as there remains no breakthrough in peace talks aimed at ending the war which is in its fourth year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week said the Kremlin “chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table” after a barrage of Russian missiles and drones killed at least 23 people in Kyiv.
