July 22 (Portal) – NATO and Ukraine will next week discuss Black Sea security, specifically the operation of a grain export corridor, at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the western coalition said on Saturday.
NATO spokesman Oanu Lungescu said the NATO-Ukraine Council set up at this month’s alliance summit will discuss the situation following Russia’s withdrawal from the year-long agreement to monitor grain exports from Ukrainian ports.
Zelenskyi said he requested the meeting over the phone with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Lungescu said the two men discussed Russia’s exit from the deal and its “continued attempts to weaponize food, affecting millions of vulnerable people around the world.”
The meeting will be at ambassadorial level, she said. Heads of state and government attended the opening session of the Council at the NATO summit in Vilnius.
Zelenskyi had earlier said in his evening video address that the Council had taken cooperation with NATO “to a new, more advanced level, the NATO-Ukraine Council, and this mechanism could have an impact.”
“I suggested to Jens that the council be convened immediately for relevant crisis consultations. The meeting will take place in the coming days. We can overcome the security crisis in the Black Sea.”
Russia said it had withdrawn from the deal on the grounds that Western countries had ignored its demands to secure Moscow’s food and fertilizer exports. Moscow said ships bound for Ukraine’s Black Sea ports could be considered military targets.
The United Nations development aid chief told the UN Security Council on Friday that an increase in grain prices since Russia pulled out of the deal “potentially poses a threat to millions of people from hunger and worse.”
Reporting by Andrew Gray, Ron Popeski and Nick Starkov; Edited by Paul Simao and Daniel Wallis
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