Ukraine and NATO have condemned russia's targeted attacks on the port infrastructure of southern Ukraine. This was announced by Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine, Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development.

"I opened the historic first meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council, initiated on July 22 by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a conversation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg," the Deputy Prime Minister said.

According to him, they discussed the obstruction of free navigation in the Black Sea by russia.

"The enemy's goal is obvious - to deprive the world of Ukrainian food, thus creating a global food crisis. We jointly condemned russia's withdrawal from the Grain Initiative and targeted missile as well as drone attacks on the port infrastructure of southern Ukraine. Over the past 9 days alone, 26 port infrastructure facilities and 5 civilian vessels have been damaged and partially destroyed as a result of russian attacks," emphasized Kubrakov.

He also noted that russia restricted shipping in the area of the temporarily occupied Crimea and near the territorial waters of Bulgaria. By doing so, russia is actually blocking the movement of ships towards Ukrainian seaports.

"We must act quickly and decisively. We cannot allow the blockade of the Black Sea by russian troops. This can lead not only to losses for the Ukrainian economy, but also to a serious food crisis in the world, particularly in such humanitarian sensitive regions as Africa and Asia. We are already discussing possible ways to counteract the enemy's cynical attacks and obstruction of free trade navigation. I am grateful to our NATO allies for their decision to strengthen their intelligence activities in the Black Sea. We hope that this will help stabilize the security situation and create conditions for the resumption of normal operation of Ukrainian ports," the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.