Russia will lose any opportunity to dominate this area and spread its influence and destructiveness to other countries, when Ukraine and its partners will make the Black Sea water area even safer, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

“At the Staff meeting, the first issue discussed was the operation of our export corridors, the defense of southern Ukraine – our cities, our ports – against Russian attacks. All of this matters not only to our state, not only to Ukraine's security but much more broadly. During the full-scale war, we proved that when Ukraine, together with its partners, restores security to the Black Sea, the world gains dividends of greater security for other regions. This ranges from food security to social security because the stability of the food market influences the political stability of many countries in the complicated African and Asian regions,” he said in his video address in the evening.

It is very important, according to Zelenskyy, that “due to Ukrainian courage, we practically push the Russian fleet out of the eastern part of the Black Sea.”

“Russia cannot use our sea to extend its aggression to other parts of the world, as it did with Syria. When Russia caused a humanitarian catastrophe in Syria, using the Black Sea as its base, and later our Crimea as a staging ground for Russian military operations,” he said.

Now, the President noted, the situation has changed. “Fundamentally changed. And when we add even more security to the Black Sea, Russia will lose any opportunity to dominate this area and spread its influence and destructiveness to other countries. The more protection we have along our coastline and in our sea, the more protection there is in the world,” Zelenskyy said.