A20 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, MAY 15 , 2022
told a Mariupol news site. Most
are sleeping on the floor, and
conditions are unsanitary, the of-
ficer said.
Turkey has proposed carrying
out evacuations but Russia hasn’t
agreed to any plan. Zelensky de-
scribed the negotiations as “very
difficult” late Friday, adding: “We
do not stop trying to save all our
people from Mariupol and
Azovstal.”
Elsewhere in the shattered port
city, hundreds of cars filled with
evacuees departed on a road
heading north to safety, a local
official said Saturday.
“A huge convoy of cars with
Mariupol residents (from 500 to
1,000 cars), who had been waiting
for more than three days, was
finally allowed to head to Zapori-
zhzhia,” wrote Petro Andriush-
chenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s
mayor, on Telegram.
The evacuation of civilians has
been fraught, with Ukrainian offi-
cials frequently accusing Russian
forces of interfering with the hu-
manitarian corridors that evacu-
ees are meant to use to reach
safety. A steelworks plant serving
as Ukrainians’ last holdout in the
city continues to face bombard-for Ukraine, tamping down a bi-
partisan push to maintain steady
aid to Kyiv.
Paul has faced criticism for the
move but stood by his decision,
saying the United States can’t
afford to send the aid to Ukraine.
Though able to stall the vote on
the package, he alone cannot stop
it once the full Senate gathers.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby
has warned that any delay in the
passage of the bill beyond Thurs-
day could interrupt the United
States’ ability to provide aid to the
war-torn nation.
Ukrainian officials have been
negotiating with Russia to evacu-
ate 60 “seriously wounded” peo-
ple and medics from the besieged
Azovstal factory in Mariupol.
The Soviet-era steel plant, less
than an hour from the Russian
border, has been a focus of intense
Russian shelling and fighting, as
Ukrainian soldiers and civilians
hid week after week in a cavern-
ous network of Cold War-era bun-
kers and tunnels, besieged on all
sides and slowly starving.
About 600 injured people are
still at the Azovstal complex,
without water, food or medicine,
a Donetsk regional police officerca’s national security and vital
interests.”
The visit is another indication
that the Senate will likely soon
approve nearly $40 billion in ad-
ditional military and humanitari-
an aid for Ukraine, outstripping
President Biden’s $33 billion re-
quest.
Passage of the measure, which
has been approved by the House,
would bring the total of U.S. con-
gressional aid to Ukraine since
the February invasion began to
more than $53 billion. U.S. mili-
tary aid to Ukraine so far this year
has already surpassed what other
countries, including Israel, re-
ceived in fiscal 2020.
The Senate is likely to follow
the House in approving the pack-
age, but that effort has been de-
layed until next week after Sen.
Rand Paul (R-Ky.) objected Thurs-
day to a fast vote on the assistanceZelensky noted “the special
role of the United States” in ramp-
ing up sanctions on Russia and
said he looked forward to addi-
tional sanctions being imposed
on Russian banking. He also
called for Russia to be branded a
state sponsor of terrorism.
The unannounced trip to Kyiv
by McConnell’s delegation was
the latest in a parade of high-level
western officials that has includ-
ed first lady Jill Biden, House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.),
and leaders of Canada and vari-
ous European nations.
“America’s support for
Ukraine’s self-defense is not mere
philanthropy,” McConnell said in
a statement on Saturday evening.
“Defending the principle of sover-
eignty, promoting stability in Eu-
rope, and imposing costs on Rus-
sia’s naked aggression have a di-
rect and vital bearing on Ameri-This article is by David L. Stern,
Devlin Barrett, Timothy Bella,
Julian Duplain and Marisa Iatimukachevo, ukraine — Senate
Minority Leader Mitch McCon-
nell (R-Ky.) led a delegation of
Republican senators from the
United States to Ukraine Satur-
day, where they visited President
Volodymyr Zelensky, as the Rus-
sian invasion continues to shift
the tectonic plates of European
politics and alliances.
Zelensky greeted four Ameri-
can lawmakers on a Kyiv street,
calling their visit “a powerful sig-
nal of bipartisan support for
Ukraine from the U.S. Congress
and the American people,” his
office said in a statement. McCon-
nell was accompanied by Sens.
Susan Collins (Maine), John Bar-
rasso (Wyo.) and John Cornyn
(Tex.).
GOP lawmakers visit Kyiv
as new alliances ready
BERNAT ARMANGUE/ASSOCIATED PRESSANNA MONEYMAKER/GETTY IMAGES
CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP: A Ukrainian National Guard soldier
outside Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Saturday. The U.S. is expected to
provide additional military aid to Ukraine — however, some in the
Senate, including Rand Paul (R-Ky.), pictured, have objected to
passing the funding. The war-torn country is currently working to
evacuate injured people from the Azovstal factory i n Mariupol.ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO/REUTERSBY GERRY SHIH
AND NIHA MASIHAfter Russia invaded Ukraine
— in a conflict of two countries
that together accounted for near-
ly a third of the world’s wheat
supply — and sent food prices to
record highs, India was supposed
to step in to fill the void. Not
anymore.
The world’s second-largest
wheat producer on Friday banned
exports of the grain amid its own
food security concerns, potential-
ly exacerbating the steep rise in
global food prices that is affecting
billions of people and threatening
food security around the world.
In a Commerce Ministry order,
Indian officials said they made
the decision after considering In-
dia’s own needs and those of
neighboring countries. India’s
food security was “at risk” be-
cause of surging international
prices, the ministry said.
The announcement was an
abrupt reversal weeks after Indi-
an officials and international ana-
lysts talked up the possibility of
India’s significantly ratcheting up
exports to fill the gap created
partly by the war in Ukraine. In-
ternational food prices have
soared to record highs in recent
months, putting pressure on bil-
lions of people, particularly the
world’s poorest, officials at the
United Nations have warned.
But a record-breaking heat
wave this spring — March was
India’s hottest month on record —
damaged crops in India and re-
duced wheat output by as much as
a quarter in some cases. As trad-
ers rushed to buy food to sell on
the international market, the In-
dian government struggled to
make purchases for its own do-
mestic food bank and ration pro-
gram, according to Indian agri-
cultural researchers and govern-
ment statistics.Like many countries, India also
has been hit with surging infla-
tion that is biting into household
budgets and even diets. Food in-
flation rose by 8.3 percent in
April, the government said.
Egypt, the world’s largest im-
porter of Russian and Ukrainian
wheat, has been negotiating with
India to import 1 million tons.
Turkey and several countries in
Africa, which also depend on
wheat imports from the Black Sea
region, had also lined up in recent
weeks to buy from India. The
government announced plans to
send trade delegations to nine
countries, including Tunisia, Mo-
rocco and Indonesia, to discuss
ramping up exports.
“At a time when the world is
facing a shortage of wheat, the
farmers of India have stepped
forward to feed the world,” Prime
Minister Narendra Modi said this
month during a visit to Germany.
“Whenever humanity is facedwith a crisis, India comes up with
a solution.”
To help scale up wheat exports,
the Indian government rushed to
set up 200 labs for export quality
checks, added more railroad cars
for transportation and prioritized
exports from ports.
Egypt approved India as a
wheat supplier in April, Com-
merce Minister Piyush Goyal said
in a tweet, adding that the coun-
try was “ready to serve the world.”
Now it’s not immediately clear
which deals will go through. The
Commerce Ministry, which over-
sees trade, said in its Friday order
that shipments will be allowed to
proceed if irrevocable letters of
credit have already been issued.
The Indian government could
also give special permission for
exports to countries “to meet
their food security needs.” Other-
wise, all exports are frozen.
Analysts said the decision to
pause exports was the right one ata time of global uncertainty.
“We should keep a surplus, giv-
en the climatic aberrations and
food security concerns,” said
Devinder Sharma, an agricultural
policy expert. “We have such a big
population to take care of. Who
knows [whether] the pandemic
may not come again?”
Through the pandemic, the
federal government supplied five
kilograms (11 pounds) of wheat or
rice and just over one kilogram
(2.2 pounds) of pulses per person
every month in addition to exist-
ing food subsidies. Earlier this
year, the program was extended
until September.
But the stress on the system
was clear when the government
announced last week that it
would provide more rice instead
of wheat under the program.
Government wheat procure-
ment fell to a 15-year low this year
to less than 20 million tons after a
record high of 43 million tons in- Exports were a key factor.
The skyrocketing global wheat
prices meant a bonanza for trad-
ers. The World Bank forecast in
April that wheat prices were ex-
pected to hit an all-time high this
year, rising by more than 40 per-
cent. Wheat exports from India
more than tripled.
Falling production, burgeon-
ing exports and high fuel prices
have led to a sharp rise in domes-
tic wheat prices in recent weeks.
Wheat is one of the most popular
food staples in the country, and
rising prices pinch consumers
across the board.
Experts said India’s wheat cri-
sis in 2005 serves as a cautionary
tale. India’s high exports depleted
its reserves, forcing it to import
wheat in the following years.
“India should not be commit-
ting the same mistake,” Sharma
said. Next year, if need arises,
“stock may not be available, and
prices will be unaffordable.”
India bans wheat export amid global price spike, concerns over food security
ment, according to the Azov Regi-
ment defending the complex.
Despite the struggles in Mari-
upol, Ukrainian forces have made
gains elsewhere in the west, push-
ing Russian troops in the Kharkiv
region north toward the border
and reclaiming towns and villag-
es in the area, a senior U.S. de-
fense official told reporters Fri-
day.
The Institute for the Study of
War, a Washington-based think
tank, assessed that Ukraine “ap-
pears to have won the Battle of
Kharkiv.” It added that the Krem-
lin has “likely decided to with-
draw fully” from its positions
around the city amid spirited
Ukrainian counterattacks and
limited Russian reinforcements.
Secretary of State Antony
Blinken is in Berlin this weekend
to meet with European allies,
which comes as Finland and Swe-
den indicated that they want to
join the NATO alliance. Finnish
President Sauli Niinistö spoke by
phone to Russian President
Vladimir Putin on Saturday to tell
him directly of his country’s deci-
sion to apply for NATO member-
ship in the coming days. The
alliance has indicated it will ac-
cept membership bids from Fin-
land and Sweden.
In the run-up to Russia’s inva-
sion in February, Moscow repeat-
edly declared that any NATO ex-
pansion would threaten Russia’s
own security and used this pur-
ported menace as a rationale for
marching into Ukraine.
Putin warned the Finnish pres-
ident that Finland’s “abandoning
its long-held policy of military
neutrality would be a mistake,
since there are no threats to Fin-
land’s security,” the Russian news
agency RIA Novosti reported.
A country of just 5.5 million
people, Finland was invaded by
its much larger neighbor, the So-
viet Union, in 1939. Since then,
Finnish policy has sought to tread
carefully around Soviet and Rus-
sian sensitivities, maintaining a
strict policy of neutrality during
the Cold War. The Ukraine inva-
sion seems to have brought that
80-year-old strategy to an end, as
Finland, which shares an 800-
mile border with Russia, seeks to
align itself more closely with
western Europe.
Russian Foreign Minister Ser-
gei Lavrov claimed Saturday that
the West has declared a “total
hybrid war” against Russia dur-
ing its invasion of Ukraine.
Lavrov said the support given
to Ukraine by Western powers,
and the historic, wide-ranging
sanctions leveled against Russia,
would have a lasting impact on
the world.
“The collective West has de-
clared total hybrid war on us, and
it is hard to predict how long all
this will last, but it is clear the
consequences will be felt by ev-
eryone, without exception,” he
said. “We have done everything
we can to avoid a direct clash, but
the challenge has been thrown to
us, so we accepted it. We have
always been under sanctions, so
we are used to them.”Barrett, Bella and Iati reported from
Washington and Duplain from
London. Victoria Bissett and Ellen
Francis in London; Amy Cheng and
Andrew Jeong in Seoul; and Tobi Raji
and Meryl Kornfield in Washington
contributed to this report.The visit is anotherindication that theSenate will likely soonapprove nearly $billion in additionalmilitary andhumanitarian aid forUkraine.