Facts about Russia-Ukraine conflict: Ukrainian president signs sanction decrees on Russian president, officials

BEIJING, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday signed two separate decrees imposing sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and more than 200 Russian officials, the presidential press service reported.

The restrictions targeting Putin banned him from carrying out trade operations such as exports and imports, transiting through Ukrainian territory and participating in the privatization of Ukraine's state property.

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday warned that the Ukraine conflict may trigger social and economic chaos around the world.

The three-month-old conflict brings new bloodshed and suffering for those on the ground. For people around the world, the conflict, together with the other crises, is threatening to unleash "an unprecedented wave of hunger and destitution, leaving social and economic chaos in its wake," he said at the launch of a second report by the Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance over the Ukraine conflict.

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Far from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Africa is paying the price. Communities are going hungry as food prices continue to escalate, exacerbating an already worse situation compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Africa relies on grain imports from Russia and Ukraine, but with the ongoing crisis, which closed ports in Ukraine and Western sanctions against Russia, the supply chain is disrupted. Humanitarian agencies are arguing that the blocked supplies are worsening the hunger situation in Africa where some parts have been hit by persistent drought, desert locust infestation and insecurity.

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Reduced exports of food commodities from Ukraine and Russia risk leaving between 11 million and 19 million more people with chronic hunger over the next year, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said on Friday.

According to the food agency, Russia and Ukraine are the world's largest and fifth-largest wheat exporters, respectively. Together, they provide 19 percent of the world's barley supply, 14 percent of wheat and 4 percent of maize, making up more than one third of global cereal exports.