KYIV, May 4 - Ukraine is asking the Biden administration for anti-ship missiles to secure ports that have been blocked by Russia’s navy, as well as more capable drones and multiple rocket launcher systems that can strike Russian forces at a longer distance, a U.S. lawmaker said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy conveyed the request to Crow and other lawmakers who visited Kyiv over the weekend, who then relayed the wish list to President Joe Biden directly, Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo told NBC News.

Ukraine said it needed U.S.-made Harpoon anti-ship missiles or similar weapons to free up the use of the Black Sea port of Odesa and other ports for the export of millions of tons of grain and food. The ports are under a de facto naval blockade by Russian forces off the coast, Crow said.

They need ground-based anti-ship missiles, the Harpoon or something like it, because one of the biggest challenges they face right now is getting their food exported,” Crow said. “They’re sitting on 12 million tons of foodstuff, wheat grains, sunflower oil, and this food needs to get out both for the Ukrainian economy but also to prevent famine and starvation in Africa and the Middle East, in particular. If it doesn’t get out in the next couple months, it will go bad. We’ll see hunger spike throughout the world.”

Ukraine has mined the waters off its ports to prevent a Russian amphibious invasion, but anti-ship missiles could allow government forces to open a corridor to move ships out of the ports, he said.

Crow later made similar comments to a group of reporters.

Ukraine is also appealing to the U.S. for longer-range drones that can be flown repeatedly in addition to the smaller, one-off “kamikaze” drones that Washington has provided so far, Crow said.

They need long-range drones that could have much longer ranges and that are re-armable, so not just the kamikaze drones, but things like we have in our U.S. inventory that can go out, strike very long distances and come back to be re-armed with precision munitions,” he said. (nbc/ez)