European agriculture has doubly suffered as a result of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia from the moment Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. It was first affected by the Russian embargo on agricultural and food products from the European Union in retaliation for the sanctions imposed by the EU. It was also disrupted by competition from Russia, which became the world's leading wheat exporter in 2017, on markets in North and Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, to the detriment of France in particular. As for Ukraine, since 2017, under its association agreement with the European Union, it has taken advantage of the great potential of its agriculture and its low production costs, which are less than half those in Europe, to increase its exports of maize and sunflowers to the European market. Before Russia's aggression, Ukraine was a major exporter of cereals to African and Middle Eastern markets. Its exports, which were shipped from Black Sea ports via the Bosphorus Strait, were reduced after the outbreak of war on 24 February 2022.