Ukraine Seeks Urgent UN Security Council Meeting Over Russian Port Attacks

Ukraine has called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting after Russia intensified its attacks on port infrastructure in Odesa and Chornomorsk. The Ukrainian acting foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, stated that the attacks on July 26th targeted at least three civilian cargo ships, resulting in casualties among the crews.

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Today, not a single vessel passed through the Ukrainian Black Sea corridor – precisely at the time of the peak harvest. This is deliberate economic and humanitarian terror. Russia holds global food security hostage.

Russia's Ministry of Defense asserted that its strikes were aimed at military targets, including a dry cargo ship being unloaded in Chornomorsk, a military cargo warehouse, and fuel storage tanks. The ministry also claimed that Russian drones hit three warehouses storing Ukrainian drones and four cargo vessels carrying supplies for the Ukrainian army in the Black Sea and Chornomorsk port.

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We call on all states, especially those affected, to immediately demand that Russia stop attacks on freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.

Sybiha condemned the attacks as "deliberate economic and humanitarian terror," accusing Russia of holding global food security hostage. He urged the international community to pressure Russia to cease its attacks on freedom of navigation in the Black Sea, emphasizing that no country has the right to starve the world. The request for the UN Security Council meeting comes amidst escalating military activities in and around the Black and Azov Seas, with both sides having attacked numerous vessels over the past four and a half years of the conflict.

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No country has the right to starve the world. Global pressure can stop Russian terror.