U.S. to purchase 150,000 tons of grain from Ukraine

The United States is stepping up to buy about 150,000 metric tons of grain from Ukraine in the next few weeks for an upcoming shipment of food aid from ports no longer blockaded by war, the World Food Program chief has told The Associated Press. The final destinations for the grain are not confirmed and discussions continue, David Beasley said. But the planned shipment, one of several the U.N. agency that fights hunger is pursuing, is more than six times the amount of grain that the first Wfp-arranged ship from Ukraine is now carrying toward people in the Horn of Africa at risk of starvation.