Ukraine has requested an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council after Russian attacks on civilian shipping brought traffic through Kyiv’s Black Sea maritime corridor to a halt at the height of the agricultural harvest season.
Acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Wednesday that no vessels passed through the maritime corridor during the day following a series of Russian attacks on civilian cargo ships.
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“Russia is holding global food security hostage,” Sybiha wrote on X.
According to the foreign minister, Russia has struck at least three civilian cargo vessels in recent days, leaving dozens of crew members killed or injured. Ukraine has requested that the UN Security Council convene on July 27 to address what Kyiv describes as escalating Russian attacks on freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.
Black Sea traffic grinds to a halt
The disruption comes during one of the most important periods of the Ukrainian agricultural calendar, when harvested grain is normally moving toward export terminals and international markets.
Sybiha described the absence of vessels from the corridor Wednesday as a deliberate attempt to inflict economic and humanitarian damage by targeting Ukraine’s ability to export food.
He compared Moscow’s actions in the Black Sea with recent Iranian attacks on energy routes around the Strait of Hormuz, arguing that Russia is applying similar pressure to global food markets.
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The comparison comes as disruption around the Strait of Hormuz has become a major international concern because of its importance to global energy supplies. ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Manila this week are expected to call for the waterway to be fully reopened.
Russia, meanwhile, confirmed Wednesday that its forces had struck port infrastructure and vessels in Odesa and Chornomorsk.
Pressure mounts on Ukraine’s grain exports
The latest attacks are adding pressure to Ukraine’s increasingly vulnerable maritime export network.
Shipping giant Maersk has temporarily suspended service through Chornomorsk Fishing Port, saying current conditions prevented it from continuing operations there. Cargo destined for that terminal will instead be redirected through the Romanian port of Constanța.
Ukraine’s main deepwater port at Chornomorsk remains operational and is separate from the fishing port, according to Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry.
But repeated Russian missile and drone strikes have already cost Ukraine roughly one-third of its capacity to export grain through its Black Sea ports, according to traders and analysts cited by Reuters. Before the disruption, Ukraine accounted for around 6% of global wheat exports and 11% of global corn exports.
The latest attacks have also directly endangered foreign crews.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian border guards evacuated all 16 crew members – 14 Egyptians and 2 Syrians – from the bulk carrier Golden Rose after a Russian drone strike hit the vessel and sparked a fire. Another Russian strike earlier this month on a Togo-flagged vessel unloading fertilizer killed five crew members and injured five others, according to Ukrainian authorities.
“No country has the right to starve the world”
Kyiv argues that the consequences of continued disruption would extend far beyond Ukraine.
Sybiha warned that rising shipping risks and reduced Ukrainian agricultural exports could increase food prices and worsen hunger for vulnerable populations in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
Ukraine is now seeking to shift the issue from a bilateral wartime dispute to an international question of maritime security and global food supplies.
Kyiv has requested an urgent UN Security Council meeting and is urging countries, particularly those dependent on Black Sea agricultural exports, to pressure Moscow to halt attacks against civilian navigation.
“No country has the right to starve the world,” Sybiha said, arguing that coordinated international pressure could force Russia to stop the attacks.
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