US working on "Plan B" for Ukrainian grain exports, says USAID

The United States is working with Ukraine on a "Plan B" to get grain exports out of the country following Russia's attack on the port of Odesa, US Agency for International Development (USAID) administrator Samantha Power told CNN on Sunday.

The strikes came just a day after Kyiv and Moscow signed an agreement to allow grain exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports, leading to anger and concern over the future of a deal aimed at easing the global food crisis sparked by war.

"Plan B involves road and rail and river and sending in barges and adjusting the rail systems so that they're better aligned with those in Europe so that the exports can move out more quickly," Power told CNN's Larry Madowo in Nairobi, Kenya.

"More than half of the wheat in the country of Somalia comes from Ukraine, it's trapped in the port of Odesa," Power said.

Some 20 million metric tons of wheat and corn are trapped at the port of Odesa, Power said, adding that despite the food security afforded by alternative routes out of Ukraine.

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