KYIV, Aug 3 - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken challenged all countries Thursday to tell Russia to stop using the Black Sea and Ukraine’s grain as “blackmail” and stop treating the world’s hungry and vulnerable people as leverage in its “unconscionable war.”

America’s top diplomat lashed out at Russia at a U.N. Security Council meeting for ignoring the world’s appeals and pulling out of the year-old deal that allowed Ukraine to ship more than 32 tons of grain from Black Sea ports to needy countries, The Associated Press reported.

“And what has Russia’s response been to the world’s distress and outrage? Bombing Ukrainian granaries, mining port entrances, threatening to attack any vessel in the Black Sea,” he said.

Blinken was chairing the signature event of the United States’ council presidency this month on conflict as a key driver of hunger and famine.

He announced that the United States, which has provided more than $17.5 billion since January 2021 to address famine and food insecurity, will give $362 million more to tackle the drivers of hunger in Haiti and 11 African countries.

He pointed to the U.N. World Food Program, which said last week it needs $20 billion to deliver aid to everyone in need but was aiming for between $10 billion to $14 billion, the amount it has received in the past few years. So far this year, however, WFP said it had received only around $5 billion and therefore 38 of 86 countries where it operates have already seen cuts or are planning cuts in food assistance soon.

“The cost of that shortfall will be measured in growth stunted and in lives lost,” Blinken said.

At the start of the meeting, the Security Council adopted a presidential statement, approved by all 15 members, strongly condemning “the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” and expressing concern at the growing number of armed conflicts all over the globe.

In 2022, “armed conflict was the most significant driver of high levels of acute food insecurity for roughly 117 million people in 19 countries and territories,” the council said, adding that an estimated 148.1 million children under the age of five suffer from stunted growth because of malnutrition.

The United States circulated a communique to the 193 U.N. member states seeking commitments “to take action to end the use of food as a weapon of war and the starvation of civilians as a tactic of warfare.” Blinken said 91 countries have signed, less than half the membership. (ap/ez)