Ukraine calls for emergency UN meeting, accuses Russia of “holding global food security hostage”

Ukraine has called for an urgent UN Security Council session on July 27.

The request follows a wave of Russian strikes against commercial vessels operating near key Black Sea ports.

Timing could not be worse. Right at the height of the summer harvest, zero ships moved through Ukraine’s primary maritime corridor on July 22.

According to The Kyiv Independent, Danish shipping giant Maersk responded immediately by suspending its routes through the port of Chornomorsk.

Instead the cargo has been rerouted to Romania.

Moscow claimed its drones hit two cargo ships loaded with military gear. However, Ukrainian officials said the strikes targeted basic merchant traffic carrying grain and fertilizer.

Fire and rescue

The human toll keeps rising. A strike on the grain carrier Golden Leo killed ten crew members on July 19 as it tried to leave the area under a Guinea-Bissau flag.

Just days earlier, deadly attacks hit vessels at the port of Odesa, leaving seven dead across two separate incidents. Another strike on an Antigua and Barbuda flagged ship killed one worker and destroyed storage units.

Rescue crews have rushed to save stranded sailors. Border guards pulled sixteen crew members from the bulk carrier Golden Rose after a drone set the vessel ablaze during the night.

The rescued sailors came from Egypt and Syria. Miraculously, all sixteen made it to shore without injuries after rescuers pulled them from the flames.

A global threat

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha warned that stopping these shipments threatens vulnerable populations across multiple continents.

“Millions of families across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America may face rising prices and hunger if this terror continues,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on X.

Sybiha called on international leaders to step in before the situation gets even worse.

“Ukraine has requested an urgent U.N. Security Council meeting for July 27th. We urge all states, particularly those affected, to immediately demand Russia stop its attacks on freedom of navigation in the Black Sea. No country has the right to starve the world. Global pressure can stop Russian terror.”

This article is made and published by Jens Asbjørn Bogen, who may have used AI in the preparation