President Ruto, Blinken discuss fertilizer crisis, Ethiopia and Russia-Ukraine conflict

The talks on Monday come as the government seeks to supply the commodity to farmers, amid the biting drought that has affected several counties.

In a statement, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price added that the two also discussed the ongoing conflict in northern Ethiopia.

At the same time, Kenya backed a resolution by the United Nations Security Council that denounced Russia’s referendums in Ukraine.

Blinken went ahead to express appreciation for Kenya’s support for the UN Security Council resolution on Russia’s referendums in Ukraine and Kenya’s commitment to upholding international law. 

This comes as Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution which described its attempts to unlawfully annex four regions of Ukraine earlier as a threat to international peace and security.

The draft described the so-called referendums held by Russia in the four regions of Ukraine which Moscow now regards as sovereign territory (Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya) as illegal and an attempt to modify Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for an immediate reversal of the decision, terming it a violation of international law. "The Charter is clear. Any annexation of a State’s territory by another State resulting from the threat or use of force is a violation of the Principles of the UN Charter," Guterres said.

The draft resolution, circulated by the United States and Albania, was supported by ten of the fifteen members of the Council, with Russia voting against it. Four members abstained, Brazil, China, Gabon and India.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pledged to push out the Russians from all of Ukraine.