KYIV: Ukraine has asked the International Maritime Organization to send a monitoring mission to ports in the southern Odesa region amid intensified Russian attacks, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Wednesday.
In recent weeks, Russian troops have ramped up missile strikes on Ukraine’s southern port infrastructure and damaged a total of four foreign-flagged civilian vessels since Oct. 6.
“Amid increased Russian terror, Ukraine has officially appealed to the International Maritime Organization to immediately send an international monitoring mission to the ports,” Sybiha told a briefing in Odesa after meeting his counterparts from the Nordic-Baltic Eight group.
He stressed that Russian strikes on port infrastructure, grain storage facilities and civilian vessels threatened global food security.
Ukraine is a major global grain grower and before Russia’s invasion in 2022 the country exported about 6 million tons of grain alone per month via the Black Sea. About 85 percent of Ukrainian food exports now leaves Ukraine from its Black Sea ports.
Insurance sources had already reported a jump in insurance costs and some canceled bookings after recent Russian attacks.
Ukraine says that Russia had carried out almost 60 attacks on ports over the past three months, resulting in the damage and destruction of nearly 300 port infrastructure facilities and 22 civilian vessels.
Ukraine requests monitoring mission at Odesa ports amid Russian strikes
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Ukraine requests monitoring mission at Odesa ports amid Russian strikes
- Russian strikes on port infrastructure, grain storage facilities and civilian vessels threatened global food security
- Insurance sources had already reported a jump in insurance costs and some canceled bookings after recent Russian attacks
Lula spoke to Maduro as risks rise of Venezuela-US conflict
- Lula had not spoken to fellow leftist Maduro since Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election
- A source said the two leaders had a brief conversation last week about “peace in South America and the Caribbean“
BRASILIA: Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spoke by phone with Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro about “peace” in South America, the Brazilian presidency said Friday, as fears grow of conflict between Washington and Caracas.
President Donald Trump’s administration accuses Maduro of leading a drug trafficking cartel, and has carried out deadly strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats, seized an oil tanker and slapped sanctions on his relatives.
Lula, one of Latin America’s most influential leaders, had not spoken to fellow leftist Maduro since Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election, the results of which Brazil — along with much of the international community — did not recognize.
A source in the Brazilian presidency, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two leaders had a brief conversation last week about “peace in South America and the Caribbean.”
However, the source said there was no intention on Lula’s part to “be a mediator” in the crisis between Washington and Caracas.
Fears are growing of open conflict between the US and Venezuela, after months of a US build-up of warships in the Caribbean and warnings from Trump that Venezuela’s airspace should be considered closed.
Trump told Politico on Monday that Maduro’s “days are numbered” and declined to rule out a US ground invasion of Venezuela.
Maduro says the United States is bent on regime change and wants to seize Venezuela’s oil reserves.
He is seeking to boost military recruitments, and the Venezuelan army swore in 5,600 soldiers on Saturday.
Lula, 80, has succeeded in mending his own country’s fraught relations with Washington in recent months, making direct contact with Trump after a long dry spell.
In their latest phone call, Lula said he told Trump: “We do not want war in Latin America.”
According to the Brazilian president’s account, Trump replied: “But I have more weapons, more ships, more bombs.”
