Black Sea's blockade by Russian troops inadmissible – Kubrakov on Ukraine-NATO council meeting

On Wednesday, Vice-Prime Minister/Minister of Infrastructure, Development of Communities and Territories Oleksandr Kubrakov opened the meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council, which was initiated on July 22 by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a conversation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Kubrakov wrote this on his Facebook page.

"Opened the historic meeting of the Ukraine-NATO council," Kubrakov wrote.

He said the meeting participants discussed Russia's obstruction of free navigation in the Black Sea. "The enemy's goal is obvious - to deprive the world of Ukrainian food, thereby creating a global food crisis," the message reads.

Kubrakov noted that the meeting participants jointly condemned Russia's withdrawal from the Grain Initiative and targeted missile and drone attacks on the port infrastructure of southern Ukraine. "Only in the last nine days, as a result of Russian attacks, 26 port infrastructure facilities and five civilian ships were damaged and partially destroyed," the vice-prime minister noted.

"The Russians are also restricting shipping in the area of the temporarily occupied Crimea and near the territorial waters of Bulgaria. With this, the Russian Federation actually blocks the movement of ships in the direction of the seaports of Ukraine," the post says.

"We must act quickly and decisively. The blockade of the Black Sea by Russian troops cannot be allowed. This can lead not only to losses in the Ukrainian economy but also to a serious food crisis in the world, in particular in such humanitarian-sensitive regions as Africa and Asia. We are already discussing possible ways of countering the enemy's cynical attacks and hindering free commercial shipping. I am grateful to the allies from the Alliance for the decision to strengthen their intelligence activities in the waters of the Black Sea. We expect that this will help stabilize the security situation and create conditions for the restoration of the normal operation of Ukrainian ports," concluded Kubrakov.