“Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction – Minister of Community and Territorial Development Oleksiy Kuleba appealed to the member states of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to prevent the re-election of Russia to the Council during the vote, which will take place on November 28.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Oleksiy Kuleba. Photo: Minister’s Telegram Source: Kuleba v Telegram
Direct speech: “A country that attacks ports, merchant ships, and kills sailors should have nothing to do with the formation of global maritime safety standards.
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Only the responsible state should have an influence on these processes, not the one that destroys the foundations of maritime law. The election of Russia to the Council will be a signal of impunity for a state that deliberately destroys the principles of freedom of navigation.”
Details: During the opening of the 34th IMO Assembly, the government official emphasized that Russia is carrying out a systematic campaign of maritime terror, turning the Black and Azov seas into dangerous zones.
According to the minister, during the full-scale invasion, 162 sailors and port workers were injured by massive Russian shelling, and some were killed. The aggressor damaged or destroyed 131 civilian vessels. Just last week, the Russian Federation struck a ferry complex and a Turkish-flagged civilian vessel.
Kuleba reported that about 40 foreign-flagged vessels remain blocked in the Mykolaiv region, and the surrounding water area is densely mined. He also recalled that the Russians’ blowing up of the Kakhovskaya dam physically cut off Ukraine’s internal waterways from the sea.
A separate threat is Russia’s expansion of the “shadow fleet” – ships that ignore IMO rules and create risks for shipping and the environment.
At the same time, the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that despite the war, the Ukrainian maritime corridor ensured the export of more than 160 million tons of goods, including 94 million tons of grain to 55 countries.