Almost four and a half million tons of grain are blocked in the ports of Ukraine. Products cannot be exported due to closed sea routes amid the Russian armed invasion, UN World Food Program Representative Martin Frick stated, writes dpa agency.

Before the start of the war, Ukraine was one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat and a producer of corn. Many countries depend on the supply of Ukrainian wheat, the UN notes.

“Hunger should not be a weapon,” Frick said. He called for the resumption of Ukrainian food supplies to other countries in order to alleviate the global food crisis.

Western countries repeatedly warned about a possible food crisis and famine in a number of countries due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, since both of these states are leading grain exporters. In March, the UN recorded an increase in food prices by more than 12 percent. This has been a record since 1990.

Soaring food prices and disruptions in supplies from Russia and Ukraine have threatened the food situation in the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia, where the population is constantly undernourished and where millions of people survive on subsidized bread and cheap noodles.