The United Nations says a senior UN official had "constructive discussions" in Moscow on facilitating Russian grain and fertilizer exports to global markets after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia of "playing hunger games" with the world by blocking Ukrainian food exports.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that UN official Rebecca Grynspan held the talks with Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov.
Grynspan is now in Washington for talks on the same issue "with the key aim of addressing growing global food insecurity," Dujarric said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is trying to broker what he calls a "package deal" to resume both Ukrainian food exports and Russian food and fertilizer exports.
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the United States is prepared to give "comfort letters" to shipping and insurance companies to help facilitate exports of Russian grain and fertilizer.
She noted that Russian grain and fertilizer were not directly sanctioned by the United States but that "companies are a little nervous and we're prepared to give them comfort letters if that will help to encourage them."
Prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel, and fertilizer have soared since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February. Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies, while Russia is also a key fertilizer exporter and Ukraine is a major exporter of corn and sunflower oil.
Kuleba said earlier that Russia was simultaneously "trying to shift the blame on Ukraine" as Western countries express concern about food shortages.
"Ukraine is working on an international UN-led operation with navies of partners ensuring a safe trade route with no security risks," he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron on May 31 said he and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to end Russia's blockade of the Ukrainian port of Odesa under the terms of a UN resolution.
The resolution would set up a framework under which mines laid by the port's Ukrainian defenders could be removed and grain shipments resumed.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it was up to the West and Kyiv to resolve the crisis, starting with the lifting of sanctions.
The day before, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had prevented Kyiv from exporting 22 million tons of grain by blocking Ukrainian ports.
In his regular nightly address, Zelenskiy said on May 30 that the grain blocked by Russia was intended for countries in the Middle East and Africa that may face famine if the blockade of Ukrainian ports continues.
The Ukrainian president accused Moscow of "deliberately creating this problem so that the whole of Europe struggles and Ukraine loses billions of dollars."
He said that Moscow's claims that international sanctions imposed on Russia over its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine do not allow it to export more of its food "cynical" and a lie.