NATO said, on Saturday, that it will discuss with Ukraine in the coming days the security situation in the Black Sea, at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
NATO spokeswoman Oano Lungescu said the NATO-Ukraine Council, formed during the alliance’s summit this month, would discuss the situation after Russia’s withdrawal from a year-old agreement that allowed grain to be exported from Ukrainian ports across the Black Sea.
Zelensky said that he requested the meeting during a phone call with the Secretary-General of the military alliance, Jens Stoltenberg.
Lungescu said Zelensky and Stoltenberg discussed Russia’s withdrawal from the agreement.
She added that the meeting will be held at the ambassadorial level. The inaugural meeting of the Council, during the Alliance Summit in Vilnius, was attended by heads of state or government.
“We have moved to a new, more advanced level in our cooperation, which is the NATO-Ukraine Council, and this mechanism can have an impact,” Zelensky said, in his video speech earlier this evening.
“I suggested to Jens that the council convene without delay for consultations on the crisis. The meeting will take place in the coming days. We can overcome the security crisis in the Black Sea,” he added.
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