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Russia has refused to speak at a UN Security Council meeting called to discuss Moscow's recent devastating attacks on the key port of Odesa immediately following its refusal to extend the Black Sea grain deal.
Key points:
- The Kremlin says the grain deal will be suspended until demands to get Russian food and fertiliser to the world are met
- The UN says 116 religious sites have been damaged since Ukraine was invaded
- Division in Ukraine's Orthodox Church has been exacerbated by Russia's invasion
NATO said in a statement on Wednesday it was "stepping up surveillance and reconnaissance in the Black Sea region, including with maritime patrol aircraft and drones", as it condemned Russia's exit from the landmark deal.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative was brokered last summer to allow shipments of Ukrainian grain to flow to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where hunger is a growing threat and high food prices have pushed more people into poverty.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the deal would be suspended until demands to get Russian food and fertiliser to the world were met.
The latest confrontation began at the start of a council session called by Russia on the divided Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
Russia's deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky protested that Britain, which holds the council presidency, was allowing only two briefers and Moscow wanted a third — Archbishop Gideon of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The Ukrainian government has cracked down on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church over its historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader, Patriarch Kirill, supports Russian President Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Polyansky accused the UK of bias, censorship and obstruction for limiting the number of briefers.
Deputy British ambassador James Kariuki responded that because of a tight schedule in which to fit two council meetings, the UK had offered a compromise to allow a third Russian briefer to submit a statement to the council, which he said was "not unreasonable".
Mr Polyansky was not satisfied, and Mr Kariuki then put Russia's proposal to have the archbishop speak to a vote. Russia only got support from China and Brazil, with the 12 other council members abstaining.
Mr Polyansky called the council's refusal to allow the archbishop to speak an "egregious" example of double standards on human rights and freedom of religion.
As "a sign of protest," he said, Russia would not speak in the Ukraine-backed council session called by Ukraine to take up the Odesa attacks.
Russia calls UN meeting on religious freedom
The director of the UN's Alliance of Civilizations office, Nihal Saad, said restrictions on freedom of religion and the safety of members of religious communities across Ukraine in both territory controlled by its government, as well as that occupied by the Russian Federation, was "a matter of grave concern".
She told the council that while the division between Ukraine's Orthodox bodies "has existed for decades", it has been exacerbated since the Russian invasion and has "reverberated worldwide as Orthodox churches have struggled with how and whether to take sides".
Ms Saad said the "heartbreaking" damage to Odesa's historic church, the Transfiguration Cathedral, caused by a Russian missile strike on Sunday was condemned by many, including the UN secretary-general.
The cathedral is in Odesa's historic city centre, which is a UNESCO world heritage site and had been largely spared since the beginning of the war.
Ms Saad lamented that it was one of 116 religious sites damaged since the invasion, according to a preliminary assessment by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
In her briefing, Ms Saad cited restrictions on freedom of religion by both Russia and Ukraine since the invasion, saying: "The politicisation of religion in the war in Ukraine fuels intercommunal tensions, stokes fear and triggers violence."
"Targeting religious actors and faith communities across Ukraine is short-sighted, miscalculated, and counterproductive," Ms Saad said.
"The role of religious leaders in maintaining solidarity across ecumenical lines is crucial to preserving the social fabric of a unified Ukraine and will be a key factor in peace building, if and when the war comes to an end.".
Mr Polyansky called the destruction of the cathedral "a horrible tragedy" and reiterated Russia's claim that the cathedral was damaged by a piece from Ukraine's anti-air defences — not a Russian missile.
If a Russian missile targeted the cathedral, he said, "then there would be nothing left of the cathedral at all".
Ukrainian ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya, the last speaker, told the council that Russian missiles, including anti-ship missiles, hit 29 historical and cultural landmarks in Odesa.
He said Russia's blockade of Ukrainian ports, destruction of their infrastructure, obstruction of grain exports, and intimidation of foreign merchant vessels should be considered an attack on freedom of navigation.
"These actions also aim at eliminating a market competitor, deliberately raising world food prices and making a profit at the expense of the millions of people around the world who will suffer," Mr Kyslytsya said.
Ukraine and Russia are both major global suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other food that developing nations rely on.
ABC/wires