But Russian warships have blockaded its ports and cut off vital shipments of grain to some of the world's most vulnerable populations.

On Wednesday, the us pledged an additional $250 million un's top food official pleaded with Russia's leader to end the blockade.

It is absolutely essential that we allow these ports to open because this is not just about Ukraine, this is about the poorest of the poor around the world who are on the brink of starvation as we speak.

So I asked President Putin if you have any heart at all to please open these ports, Russian actions to weaponize food go well beyond the blockade.

In agricultural areas.

They currently control.

The Russians are accused of stealing farm equipment and tons of grain from Ukrainian farmers will get more now from CNN's Suarez.

Before the war, most of the food produced by Ukraine was exported through ports like this.

Now, these key trading docks have ground to a halt blockaded by Russia, who, according to Ukraine's Defense Ministry has also pilfered an estimated 400,000 tons of grain from Ukrainian farmers.

In Russian occupied territory, footage obtained by CNN from multiple zap oreja shows, trucks bearing the white Z symbol of the Russian military transporting grain to Russian Health Crimea an act that President Zelensky administration is calling food terrorism.

This is not just a strike at Ukraine with our agrarian export, dozens of countries in various regions of the world have found themselves on the brink of food deficit.

Through satellite images, we were able to identify the Russian merchant ship, Macros pas nick, one of three involved in the trade of stolen grain seen here at the ports in Sevastopol Crimea.

On april 29th.

From there, the vessel carrying an estimated 27,000 tons of grain.

According to maritime tracking site, fleet travel through the Bosporus to alexandria in Egypt but was denied.

Report.

Then it went on to Beirut in Lebanon, but it was also turned away.

Finally, on May eight, it reached Latakia, the principal ports in Syria, according to shipping sources and Ukrainian officials.

So in this situation, I mean, the countries in the Middle East and in the end, the Northern Africa, they will be.

They don't have choice.

Okay, uh, and they will import with, from Anywhere from where it's possible.

So I think this is really state supported the theft of Ukrainian assets of Ukrainian grain for Russia stealing wheat and other grains during the war could prove lucrative.

The price of wheat has skyrocketed so far this year, more than 60% or so spiking after the war started on February 24, And how much of a valuable commodity is it?

What the price of wheat is now trading about $400 a ton on the world market.

As supplies run low and as prices continue to rise, there are fears the war is pushing the world to the brink of a food crisis with the german foreign minister calling Russia's actions a deliberate war of grains.

After seeing for himself the tons of grain, wheat and corn stockpile in Odessa, the president of the european council Charles Michel vowed the U.

With support from the U.

S.

Will help look for ways to export grain from Ukraine.

Some of it is already being shipped from ports in neighboring Romania, but still only a fraction of Ukraine's total production.

More help is needed if europe's breadbasket is to continue to feed the world, Jesus Suarez, CNN let's take you live to brussels.

Eu lawmakers are debating how to keep energy supplies phone as tensions grow with Russia, Moscow has already shut off its gas exports to Poland and Bulgaria.

There are signs Finland could be next possibly as soon as this weekend for more.

I'm joined by Clare Sebastian, it's not as clear cut as the Kremlin saying we're cutting off supplies, but that's how it's being interpreted well and of course we have precedent right with Poland and Bulgaria and now the finished gas company Gazprom is saying that they are not going to use this payment mechanism that Moscow has set up where you sort of have to deposit euros, then they get converted to rebels, they're not going to do that.

So they say it's now likely they think that the gas will be shut off this weekend.

And this is why max that the EU is no longer treating this as a hypothetical, obviously it's been done before, they know it could happen, they just launched their new $221 billion plan to essentially redraw the energy map of europe to try to eventually do without Russian energy.

No real surprises.

There more lng, more renewables cutting demand, That's critical.

They say they can do that by about 5%.

Just simple things like planning the lights off using less air conditioning and they are, they have sort of put together a plan for what they would do for a sudden stop when it comes to two Russian gas and that would involve sort of working together pooling their resources and shifting energy from the places that need it less to to the more critical need.

The other thing the Russians control, which is vital to the world economy, is Ukrainian grain there effectively, it's effectively trapped, isn't it, in these Ukrainian ports and s.

O they're describing how this is now being described as a grain war.

I mean, it's a horrifying situation.

You had the held ahead of the World Food Program saying that people are on the brink of starvation because of this.

These are parts of Africa largely aren't they rely on those supplies.

Countries like Somalia for example, get 100% of their wheat from or did at least before this conflict from Russia and Ukraine, it is affecting the poorest of the poor.

And essentially because the rhetoric in Russia around this is this is the result of sanctions.

The sanctions are the aggressors here, you have them to blame for rising inflation in europe, for these food shortages.

But we heard from Anthony Blinken, the US Secretary of State yesterday trying to counter that argument.

Take a listen.

Some have tried to blame the sanctions imposed on Russian, on the Russian federation, by the United States and many other countries for worsening this crisis.

This is false when we impose sanctions on Russia in order to end the war as quickly as possible.

We deliberately and carefully created exceptions for agricultural goods and fertilizer.

We're working every day to get countries any information or assistance they need, you know, max the sanctions landscape is complicated.

There's been self sanctioning, there's been uncertainty that has sort of upended trade in many ways.

You know, shipping companies banks have been reluctant to to to to sort of get grain shipments out of countries like Russia and Ukraine because of this uncertainty.

But the bottom line is there are no sanctions that would prevent Russia from reopening the ports on the Black Sea.