Ukraine At UN: Russia Attacked More Than 50 Vessels In Black Sea This Summer

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa said this on Tuesday, September 1, during a UN General Assembly meeting on the situation in Ukraine's temporarily occupied territories, according to an Ukrinform correspondent in New York.

According to Betsa, such attacks pose a threat to global food security.

“Over the past several years, Russia has damaged more than 1,050 port facilities and attacked more than 240 civilian vessels. In summer 2026 alone, Russia attacked more than 50 vessels. Nearly 30 people were killed,” she said,” she said.

Betsa noted that about 90% of Ukraine's grain and oilseed exports are shipped through Black Sea ports, while alternative routes cannot match maritime transport in terms of capacity.

Recent attacks have already disrupted international food supplies and raised concerns among major food-importing countries.

“There is absolutely no justification under international law for these unlawful actions by Russia,” she said. The international community must respond by“increasing pressure aimed at ending Russian terror and protecting millions of people around the world,” the deputy foreign minister said.

Read also: Ukraine seeks ways to restore agricultural exports amid Russian blockade of maritime corridor – Sybiha

Betsa also pointed to Russia's systematic theft of Ukrainian grain from temporarily occupied territories.

In 2025 alone, more than 2 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain worth about $400 million were illegally seized and exported to foreign markets, including through the so-called shadow grain fleet, she said.

“Stolen Ukrainian agricultural products must be confiscated, not legitimized,” the deputy foreign minister concluded.

As previously reported by Ukrinform, Ukraine has called on UN member states, international organizations and parliamentary institutions not to recognize the illegal so-called elections that Russia plans to hold in Ukraine's temporarily occupied territories.

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