2023-07-23 00:21:40
At the request of Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is calling a meeting of the new NATO-Ukraine Council next Wednesday. The aim is to discuss the latest developments and to discuss the transport of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, said alliance spokeswoman Oana Lungescu on Saturday evening. The meeting should take place at ambassador level.
Shortly before the announcement, Stoltenberg had called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Stoltenberg then said: “We strongly condemn Moscow’s attempt to use food as a weapon.” Allies would stand by Ukraine for as long as needed. The country attacked by Russia is closer to NATO than ever following the alliance’s most recent summit.
Zelenskyy said he and Stoltenberg had discussed the implementation of the agreements reached at the summit and further steps to integrate Ukraine into the Western Defense Alliance. Necessary steps have also been identified to unblock grain transport across the Black Sea and to ensure it in the long term. However, he did not say what those steps are.
Last Monday, Russia let an agreement signed a year ago to export Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea expire. Since the summer of last year, the agreement has enabled Ukraine to sell almost 33 million tons of grain and food to other countries by sea, despite the Russian war of aggression. Even during the war, Ukraine remained the World Food Program’s (WFP) largest supplier of wheat in 2022, supplying more than half of WFP’s global wheat procurement.
At the NATO summit in Vilnius a few days earlier, the 31 members of the defense alliance decided to further intensify cooperation with Ukraine and to establish the new NATO-Ukraine Council. A new multi-year support program was also approved.
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