Russian propaganda media widely disseminate this thesis. In particular, this was stated by RIA Novosti concerning the statement of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, made at a press conference in Ankara: "The situation with Ukrainian grain has nothing to do with the food crisis in the world, but the West portrays it as a 'global catastrophe,'" said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. "We have paid a lot of attention to the problem of Ukrainian grain exports, which our Western colleagues and Ukrainians are trying to classify as a global catastrophe, although the share of this Ukrainian grain in question is less than 1% of world wheat and other cereals."

A similar manipulation was spread by the Russian media, claiming that world hunger could be caused by sanctions against Russian fertilizers and not by the problem with Ukrainian grain, which arose as a result of the war unleashed by Russia. However, according to ING Economics, Ukraine accounts for 12% of world wheat exports and 17% of world corn exports; Ukraine is also the world's largest oil exporter and the largest supplier of fertilizers in the world, and Russia's war against Ukraine disrupted their exports and logistics. Also, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in 2021, the world produced 2776.9 million tons of grain. And according to the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, Roman Leshchenko, in 2021, the country harvested 32.4 million tons of wheat, 40 million tons of corn, and 10 million tons of barley, i.e., only these three crops together account for almost 3% of world grain production. According to The Insider fact-checkers, this indicator is not as important as Ukraine's share in world exports to assess the impact of the war in Ukraine on the world grain market.

According to the Ukrainian agricultural portal Latyfundyst, in 2020, when the wheat harvest in Ukraine was significantly lower than a year later, out of 29.2 million tons exported, 21 million tons were shipped. Ukraine was in fifth place after the European Union, Russia, the United States, and Canada in the world's most extensive wheat exporters list.