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Shipping at the sharp end of the escalating Black Sea crisis
来源：shippingazette 编辑：编辑部 发布：2023/08/02 09:03:53
NATO forces have announced they were stepping up surveillance of the Black Sea as Russia bombards port facilities and grain export infrastructure, including along the Danube where a Romanian-flagged ship suffered damage, reports Singapore's Splash 247.
The announcement from the NATO-Ukraine Council, which was launched at a NATO summit in Lithuania earlier this month to coordinate cooperation between the military alliance and Kiev.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the UN, said one of Russia's attacks this week destroyed 60,000 tonnes of grain, enough to feed more than 270,000 people for a year.
She also said Moscow's attacks on Chornomorsk, a port south of Odesa which facilitates nearly 70 per cent of Ukrainian wheat exports to developing countries, will take at least a year to repair.
Moscow backed out of a United Nations-brokered grain shipping pact with Ukraine 11 days ago and has since moved to strangle exports of foodstuffs from its enemy.
"NATO and allies are stepping up surveillance and reconnaissance in the Black Sea region, including with maritime patrol aircraft and drones," NATO said.
Moscow has warned that ships heading to Ukraine's Black Sea ports could be considered military targets and is getting ready to enforce a blockade on Ukraine, according to the UK's Ministry of Defence.
The Russian Sergey Kotov patrol ship "has deployed to the southern Black Sea, patrolling the shipping lane between the Bosphorus and Odesa," said the Defence Ministry in a tweet, adding: "There is now the potential for the intensity and scope of violence in the area to increase."
The announcement from the NATO-Ukraine Council, which was launched at a NATO summit in Lithuania earlier this month to coordinate cooperation between the military alliance and Kiev.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the UN, said one of Russia's attacks this week destroyed 60,000 tonnes of grain, enough to feed more than 270,000 people for a year.
She also said Moscow's attacks on Chornomorsk, a port south of Odesa which facilitates nearly 70 per cent of Ukrainian wheat exports to developing countries, will take at least a year to repair.
Moscow backed out of a United Nations-brokered grain shipping pact with Ukraine 11 days ago and has since moved to strangle exports of foodstuffs from its enemy.
"NATO and allies are stepping up surveillance and reconnaissance in the Black Sea region, including with maritime patrol aircraft and drones," NATO said.
Moscow has warned that ships heading to Ukraine's Black Sea ports could be considered military targets and is getting ready to enforce a blockade on Ukraine, according to the UK's Ministry of Defence.
The Russian Sergey Kotov patrol ship "has deployed to the southern Black Sea, patrolling the shipping lane between the Bosphorus and Odesa," said the Defence Ministry in a tweet, adding: "There is now the potential for the intensity and scope of violence in the area to increase."