The U.S. Agency for International Development, known as USAID, is providing more than $68 million in additional funding to the UN World Food Program. The funding supports the purchase, movement and storage of up to 150,000 metric tons of Ukrainian wheat to help respond to the world’s worst food crises.

Before Russia’s invasion, Ukraine was one of the World Food Program’s top grain suppliers and the fourth largest commercial wheat exporter. Opening the Ukrainian market is a vital step forward in the emergency response, according to USAID, which says the world is facing its most severe food crisis in decades.

USAID supported the first humanitarian grain shipment to leave the Black Sea this week. The shipment will support the humanitarian response in the Horn of Africa. The United States has provided nearly $7.6 billion in assistance to respond to the global food security crisis since the beginning of Russia’s war against Ukraine.