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Workers pulled scores of bodies from smashed buildings in an “endless caravan of death” inside the devastated city of Mariupol, authorities said Wednesday, while fears of a global food crisis escalated over Ukraine’s inability to export millions of tons of grain through its blockaded ports, Associated Press reported.

At the same time, Ukrainian and Russian forces battled fiercely for control of Sievierodonestk, a city that has emerged as central to Moscow’s grinding campaign to capture Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, known as the Donbas.

As the fighting dragged on, the human cost of the war continued to mount. In many of Mariupol’s buildings, workers are finding 50 to 100 bodies each, according to a mayoral aide in the Russian-held port city in the south.

Petro Andryushchenko said on the Telegram app that the bodies are being taken in an “endless caravan of death” to a morgue, landfills and other places. At least 21,000 Mariupol civilians were killed during the weeks-long Russian siege, Ukrainian authorities have estimated.

The consequences of the war are being felt far beyond Eastern Europe because shipments of Ukrainian grain are bottled up inside the country, driving up the price of food.

Ukraine, long known as the “bread basket of Europe,” is one of the world’s biggest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but much of that flow has been halted by the war and a Russian blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea coast. An estimated 22 million tons of grain remains in Ukraine. The failure to ship it out is endangering the food supply in many developing countries, especially in Africa, according to Associated Press.

Russia expressed support Wednesday for a UN plan to create a safe corridor at sea that would allow Ukraine to resume grain shipments. The plan, among other things, calls for Ukraine to remove mines from the waters near the Black Sea port of Odesa.

But Russia is insisting that it be allowed to check incoming vessels for weapons. And Ukraine has expressed fear that clearing the mines could enable Russia to attack the coast. Ukrainian officials said the Kremlin’s assurances that it wouldn’t do that cannot be trusted.

European Council President Charles Michel on Wednesday accused the Kremlin of “weaponizing food supplies and surrounding their actions with a web of lies, Soviet-style.”

While Russia, which is also a major supplier of grain to the rest of the world, has blamed the looming food crisis on Western sanctions against Moscow, the European Union heatedly denied that and said the blame rests with Russia itself for waging war against Ukraine.

“These are Russian ships and Russian missiles that are blocking the export of crops and grain,” Michel said. “Russian tanks, bombs and mines are preventing Ukraine from planting and harvesting.”

The West has exempted grain and other food from its sanctions against Russia, but the U.S. and the EU have imposed sweeping punitive measures against Russian ships. Moscow argues that those restrictions make it impossible to use its ships to export grain, and also make other shipping companies reluctant to carry its product, Associated Press reported.

Turkey has sought to play a role in negotiating an end to the war and in brokering the resumption of grain shipments. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met on Wednesday with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. Ukraine was not invited to the talks.

Nepal reported 16 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 2, 121 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 10 returned positive. Likewise, 928 people underwent antigen tests, of which six were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that eight infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 109 active cases in the country.

Locals have vandalized the garbage carrying vehicles at Banchare Danda in Kakani Rural Municipality-2, Nuwakot on Wednesday.

It has been learnt that the locals vandalized the vehicles from the Kathmandu Valley while trying to unload the trash with the help of police. Police said that 15 vehicles were vandalized this morning.

Police also fired tear gas shells to take the situation under control. Three police personnel were injured when locals pelted stones at them.

Though the government, metropolis and local representatives had reached an agreement on dumping the garbage two days ago, enraged locals who were unaware about the agreement, however, said that they would not allow the garbage of Kathmandu to dump in Banchare Danda until their demands are met.

Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has directed the government to take ahead the process of taking action against the perpetrators of the Binod Shahi death incident.

During a meeting of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Speaker Sapkota drew the attention of the government to take action against the culprits of the incident.

Speaking at the special hour of today’s meeting, lawmaker Yagya Bahadur Bogati drew the attention of the government through Speaker Sapkota saying that the police have refused to take a complaint from Shahi’s family members.

Later, saying that his serious attention had been drawn towards the issue, Speaker Sapkota directed the government to take ahead the process of taking action against the culprits by finding the truth behind the incident.

“My serious attention has been drawn towards the issue raised by the respected lawmaker. I want to draw the attention of the government on the issue. I want to direct the government to take ahead the process of taking action against the perpetrators by finding the truth behind the incident,” he said.

Shahi (15) of Panchadewal Binayak Municipality-4, Achham, who had been missing since June 31, was found dead near his house on Saturday morning.

Locals have been staging demonstrations demanding fair investigation into the incident.