Ukraine: Odesa Shelling & Russian Withdrawal from Black Sea Initiative - Security Council (Full)

The Assistant Secretary-General for Middle East, Asia and the Pacific in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, Khaled Khiari, told the Security Council that, in the wake of Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Initiative, last week’s attacks “signal a calamitous turn for Ukrainians and the world.”
Briefing the Council on Wednesday (26 July) in New York, Khiari noted that “Port cities that allow for the export of grain such as Odesa, Reni and Izmail, are a lifeline for many” and that “now they are the latest casualties in this senseless, brutal war.”
On Sunday, a Russian missile attack damaged the UNESCO protected Transfiguration Cathedral and other historical buildings in the Historic Centre of Odesa, a World Heritage site. In this attack, one person was reportedly killed, and several others, including children, injured.
The Assistant Secretary-General said that “unfortunately, Sunday’s attack was not the first targeting Ukrainian culture and heritage.”
He added that, since 24 February 2022, UNESCO has verified damage to 274 cultural sites in Ukraine, including 117 religious sites.
“As the Secretary General stated this weekend, we are concerned about the threat that this war increasingly poses to Ukrainian culture and heritage and we urge the Russian Federation to immediately cease attacks against cultural property protected by widely ratified international normative instruments,” added Khiari.
According to the Assistant Secretary-General, “deliberately targeting infrastructure that facilitates the export of food to the rest of the world could be life threatening to millions of people who need access to affordable food.”
He also said that “these attacks targeting Ukraine’s grain export facilities, similarly to all attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure are unacceptable and must stop immediately.”
The Permanent Representative of the United States, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said that “the world is paying the price for Russia's barbaric attacks, so let's not both sides this issue.”
Thomas-Greenfield added, “Only one country, one country is weaponizing food. Only one country is cynically using its reign as leverage in order to secure support from other countries. And only one country is responsible for the suspension of the Black Sea Grain initiative. We must all urge restaurant to Russia to cease its attacks on global food security and extend, expand and fully implement the Black Sea Grain Initiative.”
Representing Ukraine, Permanent Representative Sergiy Kyslytsya said that “Ukrainian grain and other foodstuffs remain another target that Russia is trying to eliminate, not caring at all about the severe implications for global food security.”
“To this end the aggressor continues its attacks against port infrastructure and grain storage facilities in Ukraine's south. On July 24, Russia launched Iranian-origin drones to attack Reni - a port city on the Danube River in the Odesa region. Three storage facilities, full of grain, were destroyed,” informed Kyslytsya.
According to the ambassador, “these aggressive actions merit a strong response otherwise Russia will be encouraged to further undermine the security situation in the Black Sea by attacking civilian vessels and laying additional mines in the waters adjacent to the Ukrainian coastline.”
Kyslytsya added that “there are grounds to believe that Russia is preparing such incidents for the purposes of blaming Ukraine and discouraging vessels from other countries from entering Ukrainian waters and using Ukrainian ports.”
Russia did not participate in the meeting.