WASHINGTON, April 12. /TASS/. The current conflict in Ukraine is jeopardizing world food security, and the US is working with India to try to increase the supply of food to the world market, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said following bilateral talks between the heads of defense and foreign affairs departments of the United States and India at a joint press conference in Washington.

"Russia's aggression stands in stark contrast to the vision that the United States and India share for a free and open Indo Pacific. And Russia's actions are having a profound impact not just in Europe and Ukraine, but around the world, for example, causing food insecurity and rising prices," he said.

"Our countries are working together to try to bring more food to world markets as well as to the World Food Program," Blinken said and added that the United States is also focused on securing more funding for the World Food Program and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and producing more fertilizers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, noting that the operation was aimed at the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine.