According to a report, food prices in parts of Syria have risen by 67% due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

the report of Mercy Corps on Wednesday said that in addition to soaring food prices, Syria has experienced shortages of sunflower oil, sugar and flour.

Before the invasion, Syria, which had more than 4 million food-insecure people in its northwestern region, had already seen an 86% increase in the cost of food between January 2021 and January 2022, said Mercy Corps.

“Even before the war in Ukraine, bread was already becoming increasingly unaffordable,” Kieren Barnes, Mercy Corps Syria director, said in a statement. statement.

Earlier this week, Cindy McCain, who serves as the US ambassador to the UN food and agriculture agencies, said, “Putin’s war forces us to take from the hungry to feed the hungry.

“Rising prices are forcing tough decisions to cut rations in some of the world’s most desperate humanitarian crises, including in Afghanistan and Yemen,” she added.

McCain also called Ukraine “one of the world’s main breadbaskets” because the country has been a major supplier of wheat to the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP).

Internationally, food prices have also reached record highs amid Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ food price index, which measures the monthly change in international food costs for different products, rose by 17.9 points between February and March, the highest levels ever seen in the history of the index.