New Delhi, Mar 12 (IANS): Global leaders ranging from the UN to the US Congress have warned that low supplies of food and high prices in war-hit Ukraine could spark conflict elsewhere, Defense One reported.

Ukraine banned the export of wheat and other vital food commodities on Wednesday, triggering global fears for food security of millions of people this year. Now the Pentagon has been urged to study how the disrupted food supply driven by Russia's invasion of Ukraine will impact security around the world.

Global leaders from China to the United Nations have warned that millions could suffer from Russia's war as some food prices have already soared and supplies are disrupted or cut off completely for months or years to come. Some warn that the suffering could spark violence in locations key to US security concerns, Defense One reported.

"Conflict and hunger are closely intertwined -- when one escalates, the other usually follows," Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development, or IFAD, said in a statement last week.

Dwindling supplies and spiking prices, he said, "could jeopardise global food security and heighten geopolitical tensions".

The Middle East and Africa receive 40 per cent of Ukraine's wheat and corn exports, he added.