At a NATO-Ukraine Council meeting on Wednesday 26 July, the Allies and Ukraine strongly condemned Russia’s decision to withdraw from the Black Sea grain deal and its “deliberate attempts” to halt Ukraine’s agricultural exports, according to an Alliance press release.
They also condemned Russia’s recent missile attacks on Ukrainian port cities, “including Moscow’s cynical drone attack on the Ukrainian grain storage facility in the Danube port city of Reni”, very close to the Romanian border.
“Russia bears full responsibility for its dangerous and escalatory actions in the Black Sea region. Russia must stop weaponising hunger, and threatening the world’s most vulnerable people with food instability. Russia’s actions also pose substantial risks to the stability of the Black Sea region, which is of strategic importance to NATO”, denounced NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. He promised that the Allies would intensify their support for Ukraine, step up their vigilance, and remain ready to defend Allied territory.
The Allies also welcomed Turkey’s efforts to revive the grain deal, and those of other Allies - including Bulgaria and Romania - the European Union and the United Nations, to allow Ukrainian grain exports to continue by land and sea.
The Allies and NATO also reiterated that they were stepping up surveillance and reconnaissance in the Black Sea region, in particular using maritime patrol aircraft and drones. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)