U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken blasted Russia's decision on Monday to halt participation in the year-old deal that lets Ukraine export grain through the Black Sea, calling for the pact to be restored as quickly as possible.
"So, the result of Russia's action today - weaponizing food, using it as a tool, as a weapon in its war against Ukraine - will be to make food harder to come by in places that desperately need it. (FLASH) This should be restored as quickly as possible. And, I hope that every country is watching this very closely."
The move by Moscow came just hours after it said a "terrorist" attack struck a strategic bridge linking the Russian mainland to Russian-occupied Crimea.
But Russian officials denied that prompted them to quit the grain deal.
The Black Sea grain agreement was brokered by the U.N. and Turkey in July last year to alleviate a global food crisis worsened by Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia are some of the world's biggest exporters of grain and other foodstuffs and any interruption could drive up food prices across the globe.
At a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also condemned Russia's termination of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
"Let us be clear Russia's actions are taking food out of the mouths of the poorest people across Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. We cannot allow this war to go on for another 500 days."
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he has written to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres calling for the continued operation of the Black Sea grain shipment deal without Russia's participation.
