Ukraine-NATO Council strongly condemns Russia's withdrawal from grain deal

At its meeting on Wednesday, the Ukraine-NATO Council strongly condemned Russia's decision to withdraw from the Black Sea grain deal.

“Allies and Ukraine 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. They also condemned Russia’s recent missile attacks on Odesa, Mykolaiv, 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,” reads the statement.

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.

Moreover, NATO and Allies are stepping up surveillance and reconnaissance in the Black Sea region, including with maritime patrol aircraft and drones.

As reported, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg convened a meeting of the newly established Ukraine-NATO Council on July 26 at Kyiv's request to hold consultations on the latest developments and discuss the transportation of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea.