US accuses Russia of holding world hostage over food amid Ukraine invasion

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accused Russia of weaponising food and holding grain for millions of people around the world hostage to help ‘break the spirit of the Ukrainian people’ (Andrea Renault/Pool/AP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accused Russia of weaponising food and holding grain for millions of people around the world hostage to help “break the spirit of the Ukrainian people”.

He told a UN Security Council meeting called by the United States that the war has halted maritime trade in large areas of the Black Sea and made the region unsafe for navigation, trapping Ukrainian agricultural exports and jeopardising global food supplies.