Yellen meets war refugees in Poland, pushes food crisis plan

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has met with Ukrainian refugees and urged the need to confront Russian brutality as she visited Poland ahead of a meeting of finance ministers for the Group of Seven leading economies

WARSAW, Poland -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday met with Ukrainian refugees and urged the need to confront Russian brutality as she visited Poland ahead of a meeting of finance ministers for the Group of Seven leading economies.

Yellen applauded Poland for helping refugees fleeing the fighting and working with neighboring countries to find ways to get Ukraine's wheat and other critical food supplies to the world. She thanked them for responding to “rising food insecurity" exacerbated by the war.

“The devastation in Ukraine in the past months reminds us not to take our next meal for granted, and how quickly events can take a turn for the worse,” Yellen said at a visit to the World Central Kitchen site in Warsaw.

She met with refugees from Ukraine who are running the kitchen and said she will release an action plan later this week to address the global food crisis threatening parts of the developing world.