The NATO-Ukraine Council, which met on 26 July, strongly condemned Russia’s decision to withdraw from the Black Sea grain deal and its deliberate attempts to stop Ukraine’s agricultural exports on which hundreds of millions of people worldwide depend.
According to the NATO website, Allies and Ukraine also condemned Russia’s recent missile attacks on Odesa, Mykolayiv, and other 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.
Allies noted that Russia’s new warning area in the Black Sea, within Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone, has created new risks for miscalculation and escalation, as well as serious impediments to freedom of navigation.
According to the Ukrainian Defence Ministry, Russia is preparing ships and aircraft to blockade the Black Sea after its withdrawal from the grain deal.
According to British intelligence, Russia has deployed a corvette to the Black Sea that can intercept commercial vessels.