NATO-Ukraine Council to meet in Brussels

MOSCOW. July 26 (Interfax) - A NATO-Ukraine Council meeting, which has been convened by the alliance's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the request of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, will take place in Brussels on Wednesday.

The meeting, which will be held at the level of the NATO countries' permanent representatives, is due to start at 3 p.m. local time, Ukrainian media said, citing the alliance's headquarters. Ambassador Natalia Galibarenko will represent Ukraine at the meeting.

No press events have been planned, it said.

As reported earlier, Zelensky said in a video address on July 22 that Ukraine had proposed immediately holding a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council over the situation in the Black Sea.

"Mr. Stoltenberg and I discussed our steps to unblock and ensure the stable operation of the grain corridor. In our cooperation, we have moved to a new, higher level - the level of the NATO-Ukraine Council. And this mechanism can work. I asked Jens to immediately convene such a meeting of the council for relevant crisis consultations. The meeting will take place in a few days," Zelensky said then.

Ukrainian media outlets also said that Zelensky met with member of the Verkhovna Rada and the government to discuss the preparation of practical steps to fulfill the decisions adopted at the NATO summit in Vilnius.

"We are not slowing down the pace of our integration with NATO. I brought together representatives of the Verkhovna Rada and government officials to prepare practical steps to implement the decisions of Vilnius summit," Ukrainian media outlets quoted Zelensky as saying in a social media post.

"We are also starting to prepare an interoperability plan with the alliance," he said.