AMBASSADOR LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Thank you very much. It’s been an incredible visit. It’s been short, but it’s been extraordinarily enlightening. We have heard that Ukraine is the breadbasket of the world, and I am here seeing Ukraine as the breadbasket of the world – seeing wheat being delivered, being processed, being produced into flour, hearing directly from farmers that they need this grain deal that the Secretary-General has been so committed to negotiating. They need this deal to give confidence to the farmers to plant their wheat.
So, again, this just shows how important this grain is, but it also is showing the impact that this unjust war started by Russia is having on the world’s markets.
QUESTION: Did you get a sense of the huge pressure that they’re under, these producers?
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: They certainly are under pressure, but also they are desperate. They need the confidence of the market to plant. So there’s a sense of desperation, as well, that I heard from them, and I will take that message back to my colleagues in the Security Council, to the Secretary-General, and I know that he knows it.
Thank you.
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