Britain and France condemned Russian attacks on ships in the Black Sea in the UN Security Council

The French Permanent Representative stressed that the Russian attacks on the port infrastructure of Odessa threaten the food security of millions.

The United Kingdom and France condemned at a meeting of the UN Security Council Russian attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea. This was stated by the British Permanent Representative to the UN Sarah McIntosh, writes Ukrinform.

“Russia is moving towards launching more than 300 missiles at Ukraine in July – this will become a gloomy record of this war,” she said.

McIntosh recalled that on July 19, three cruise missiles hit a ship carrying grain from Odesa – ten civilians were killed. According to her, on July 24, new attacks led to casualties among civilians in Kyiv, and also damaged the building of the Honorary Consulate of Latvia in Sloviansk. The diplomat also drew attention to the violation of Romanian airspace by Russian drones.

“The UK stands in full solidarity with Ukraine, as well as with Latvia and Romania,” she said.

McIntosh stressed that Russia was trying to equate the massive shelling of Ukrainian cities with Ukraine’s efforts to defend its state.

“But there is no equality here. Ukraine is exercising its right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter,” she said.

The diplomat also provided data on the consequences of the war for Russia itself.

“Civilians are queuing for fuel across Russia. 42% of oil refining capacity has been knocked out of service, and the country, which has some of the world’s largest oil reserves, is now importing fuel,” she said, adding that Russia’s budget deficit has doubled and real incomes continue to decline.

France’s Permanent Representative Jerome Bonafont stressed the scale of Russia’s attack on Ukrainian agricultural exports.

“By attacking and deliberately destroying the port infrastructure of Odesa, as well as ships transporting Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea, and the World Food Program warehouse in the Dnieper, Russia is not only killing innocent civilians, but also directly endangering the food security of millions of people, especially in Africa and the Middle East,” he noted.

Both countries confirmed their intention to continue to comprehensively support Ukraine.

Also, the day before, USM reported that the USPA commented on the state of the water area after the sinking of a ship off the coast of Odesa.