Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has warned the West against "appeasing" Vladimir Putin as he seeks to weaponise hunger across the world.
The Russian leader has blocked grain exports from Ukrainian ports since the invasion. Around 22 million tonnes of grain are reportedly stuck in Ukraine – one of the world’s biggest wheat producers – as a result of the Russian naval blockade.
Western leaders fear the blockade is quickly becoming one of the most urgent humanitarian crises in Ukraine.
Earlier this week UK President Joe Biden said his officials were working on solutions “to get this food out into the world so that it could help bring down prices”.
Ms Truss has slapped down Russia's demand - that international sanctions be lifted in return for shipments to resume.
Speaking during a visit to Bosnia Herzegovina, Ms Truss said the UK will work with allies to get as much as possible out of the country, amid fears of food shortages in some of the world’s poorest countries.
“It is completely appalling that Putin is trying to hold the world to ransom. He is essentially weaponising hunger and lack of food among the poorest people around the world. We simply cannot allow this to happen,” she said.
“Putin needs to remove the blockade on Ukrainian grain. We will do all with our allies and partners to get the grain out of Ukraine and supply the rest of world.
“What we cannot have is any lifting of sanctions, any appeasement, which will simply make Putin stronger in the longer term.”
The UN World Food Programme’s David Beasley said: “Right now Ukraine’s grain silos are full. At the same time, 44 million people around the world are marching towards starvation.
"We have to open up these ports so that food can move in and out of Ukraine. The world demands it because hundreds of millions of people globally depend on food that comes through these ports.”
At a joint news conference in Sarajevo with her Bosnian counterpart, Bisera Turkovic, Ms Truss announced a new support package for the western Balkans, aimed at mobilising 100 million US dollars (£80 million) of UK-backed investment in a bid to counter Russian influence in the region.
She said Moscow’s interference in Bosnia Herzegovina threatens a return of the civil war which tore the country apart in the 1990s.
“What we are seeing today in this country are signs of Russian interference which risks plunging us back into those dark days. This must be stopped,” she said.
Boris Johnson discussed getting grain out of Ukraine with president Volodymyr Zelensky to alleviate the global food crisis from Russia ’s “craven and reckless” blockade.
The Prime Minister raised his “significant concerns” with his ally in a call on Thursday morning as they plotted how to open up the “critical sea and land supply” routes.
Their talks came after United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned Vladimir Putin’s invasion could cause a food crisis lasting for years.
