Ukraine Embassy in Kenya cries out for funds in support of war with Russia

Kenyans who want to help Ukraine after Russia’s invasion can now do so by sending money to M-Pesa pay bill number 3002400.

In a Twitter tweet, the Ukrainian embassy in Kenya launched the initiative to support the country’s struggle against Russia and preserve the lives of those impacted.

The embassy claimed the idea was spurred by several requests from Kenyans who wanted to donate to the cause.

Since Russia’s incursion on February 24, more than 3.9 million people have fled Ukraine, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Andrii Pravednyk, the Ukrainian ambassador to Kenya, has blamed Russia for the country’s rising food prices, claiming that the conflict has harmed crop productivity.

The Ambassador told Capital in the morning on Thursday that Ukraine, which is a major grain supplier to most nations, including Kenya, has seen its people unable to work due to the fighting, resulting in higher food prices.

“We provide food security to a  number of countries around the world, in Africa including Kenya and definitely there will be negative implications since the ongoing hostilities will not allow Ukrainian agricultural workers to work as during peaceful times but it’s Russia to blame because they started the full invasion,” he stated.

Dmitry Maksimychev, the Russian Ambassador to Kenya, has recently rejected accusations that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is to blame for increased food costs in Africa, instead blaming sanctions placed by western nations.

The sanctions, according to Amb. Maksimychev, prevent Russia from selling food to African countries, including Kenya.

“There is a new tune in the information bubble that is being played that because of Russia, Africa will starve. I frankly cannot understand the logic because yes, we are a very big producer of food, grain, oil, vegetable oil, sunflower oil, all types of grain, meat, and poultry and so on. We are willing to sell this produce because we are big exporters,” Maksimychev said when he spoke to Capital in Morning show

The sanctions, according to the Russian envoy to Kenya, have done a major blow to the financial infrastructure that allows the two nations to trade.

He went on to say that the system was hurting both countries, noting that the system had lately gone down, making it hard for the two countries to make goods payments.

Following President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and allies decided to bar a number of Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift), an international payment system that allows money to be transferred across borders.