UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday that hundreds of millions of people will pay for Russia's decision to break the Black Sea grain export agreement.

Speaking to journalists, António Guterres lamented that hundreds of millions of people are going hungry and consumers are facing a global crisis of rising living costs, adding that the Russian decision "will be a blow to people in need around the world".

"I deeply regret the decision of the Russian Federation to terminate the implementation of the Black Sea Initiative, including the withdrawal of Russian security guarantees for navigation in the northwestern Black Sea," said the UN Secretary-General on the day the agreement expired.

Quoted by Lusa, Guterres argued that participation in this agreement "is a choice", but recalled that "people struggling everywhere and developing countries have no choice". The UN Secretary General assures that he will not give up in the face of this Russian decision, guaranteeing that it "will not impede efforts to facilitate unhindered access to world markets for agricultural products and fertilizers for both Ukraine and Russia".

"Food security and stable food prices will continue to be at the center of your efforts, given the increase in human suffering that is an inevitable consequence of today's decision," he said.

Guterres also said he was disappointed that a letter he sent last week to Russian President Vladimir Putin in an attempt to find a solution to the problem was ignored.

The letter, the exact content of which has not been made public, proposed that a subsidiary of Russia's main agricultural bank, whose activities are hampered by the sanctions, be reconnected to the SWIFT global banking system, following an agreement to this effect with the European Commission.

Although Russia claims that the conditions it set for the continuation of the grain agreement, in particular the part relating to its own food and fertilizer exports, have not been met, Guterres' letter also insisted on the need for progress in this area. On Monday, Russia suspended the agreement to export grain via the Black Sea from Ukrainian ports, arguing that the commitments made regarding the Russian side have not been met.

"The grain agreement is suspended," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov during his daily telephone press conference. "When the part of the Black Sea agreement related to Russia is fulfilled, Russia will immediately return to the implementation of the agreement," Peskov said.

The Kremlin spokesman said that the attack in recent hours on the main bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland was not a factor in the decision to suspend the agreement.