In a wish-list of weapons he gave to a cadre of congressmen who visited Kyiv over the weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy included anti-ship missiles to help clear blockaded ports, NBC News reports.
Ukraine had a surprising success against the Russian navy by sinking the Russian Black Sea fleet’s flagship, the Moskva, in April, although the Russians claim the ship sunk due to a mysterious explosion in its ammunition cache.
Zelenskyy asked the contingent, which included Democratic Colorado Congressman Jason Crow, for weapons including Harpoon missile systems. “They need ground-based anti-ship missiles, the Harpoon, or something like it, because one of the biggest challenges they face right now is getting their food exported,” Crow said. “They’re sitting on 12 million tons of foodstuff, wheat grains, sunflower oil, and this food needs to get out both for the Ukrainian economy, but also to prevent famine and starvation in Africa and the Middle East, in particular. If it doesn’t get out in the next couple months, it will go bad. We’ll see hunger spike throughout the world.”