forces have been deploying mines in the black sea. what this means for ukraine is significant but the impact on the globe is also huge. the european commission says ukraine accounts for 10% of the world s wheat market, 15% of the corn market and 13% of the barley market. it s also a key player in the industry of sunflower oil and manufacturer of sunflower oil. u.n. estimated blocking ukrainian grain could create food insecurity for as many as 47 million people around the world. scott mclean has more on this and is joining us now. what is russia saying about this and why are they pulling out of this deal now? reporter: first, this is not entirely unexpected. the ukrainian diplomat said last month she was 99.9% sure the russians were going to not renew this deal and obviously that has turned out to be true. the russians essentially say that the u.n. was not living up to its end of the bargain because in exchange for allowing ukrainian ships packed with grain and other food to leave
equipment across that kerch strait, but hugely symbolic because, of course, putin considers crimea to be very much a part of russia. how russia responds is the major question. after that last attack in october of 2022 we saw one of the biggest, if not the biggest russian strike all over ukraine since the war began last year, john. this bridge as you say very important to vladimir putin himself. alex marquardt, thank you very much. stay safe. kate, this literally hitting putin where it hurts. absolutely. related, maybe not related but definitely another huge development out of ukraine in all of this, russia is now terminating the deal to allow ukraine to export grain by sea. the deal was brokered last year by the u.n. in turkey and had allowed ukraine to move its critical grain supplies from its ports through the black sea to the basra strait. before the deal russia blocked any ukrainian shipment and u.s. intelligence found that russian
port safely, the russians were supposed to get help from the u.n. to actually more easily get their own food and their own fertilizer out to market. now, there are no sanctions at all on russian agricultural products or on fertilizer, anything like that, but as we know there are plenty of sanctions on russian banks and that applies in many cases to the international payment mechanisms as well that make payment for this grain, this food, this fertilizer for russia more complicated. so one of the key demands that russia has had is to be reconnected to some of these international payment mechanisms. the u.n. has offered to connect the agricultural bank in russia to that, those systems, but that s obviously been rejected. the u.n. says it will continue to work on this, but an official also said today that russia s decision is pretty final. in fact, they say they have already removed security guarantees for ships passing through the black sea. this is an area that is mined with explosives.
another train at the border. kate? i mean, it is critical for people around the world and what we re seeing, which is why we know as we can see russia getting in the way could be is part of their strategy. good to see you, scott. thank you. sara? a. with us now is retired general wesley clark, former nato supreme allied commander and senior fellow at ucla s burkel center. thank you for coming in. i want to get black sea grain deal, it has been canceled by russia. can you explain the repercussions here because this is a worldwide repercussion, this doesn t just have to do with the region, correct? that s right. this is worldwide. it drives up prices, it restricts the volume of grain that s out on the market, it particularly attacks u.n. world food program and it puts some countries in the global south in real jeopardy for real hunger
crisis. they re all dependent on russian and ukrainian grain. russian grain has been moving out, but as we saw ukrainian grain is a significant part of the world s supply and so this is going to have a big impact. okay. so food prices, world food prices soaring, food shortages in places like africa and the middle east, those are really big issues that this war has brought forward. i do want to ask you now about the 12-mile bridge that goes over the kerch strait hit by ukraine, it links directly russia to the crimean peninsula. can you give me some pens of how crucial this is for russia and its military? well, it is crucial in the sense of being able to have full flow of supplies to russian forces that are defending against the ukrainians. coming through crimea and trying to prevent the ukrainians from coming south from zaporizhzhia,