After the end of the grain agreement, Russia wants to treat ships in the affected areas of the Black Sea as possible military vessels. In order to emphasize its threats, the Kremlin sends its warships out for an exercise. In addition, Russian missiles are hitting Odessa.
After the expiration of the Ukraine grain agreement, the Russian Black Sea Fleet held an exercise with live ammunition in the Black Sea, according to Moscow. In the process, a target ship in the northwest of the Black Sea was fired on with anti-ship missiles and destroyed, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram. Russia had previously announced it would classify ships in the Black Sea bound for Ukraine as “potentially carrying military cargo” from Thursday.
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In the exercise now being held, the ships and naval aircraft involved would also have taken measures to “cordon off the area temporarily closed to shipping” and tested detaining an attacking ship.
Russia had declared unspecified areas in the “northwestern and southeastern areas of the international waters of the Black Sea” as “temporarily dangerous for transit” after the grain agreement expired. Establishing shipping routes without Russian participation would involve “risks,” he said. In response to the threat, Ukraine announced it would take action against ships calling at Russian-controlled ports in the Black Sea. The Defense Ministry in Kiev pointed out that such ships could be considered transporting “cargo of military destination.”
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Meanwhile, the Russian military has again attacked grain terminals in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa. “At dawn, the Russians launched Kalibr-type missiles from a missile cruiser they sent to patrol the Black Sea at night,” the head of the military administration, Oleh Kiper, announced on his Telegram channel.
The shelling destroyed 100 tons of peas and 20 tons of barley, the administration chief reported. It was the fourth attack on the city of a million people this week. Odessa was one of the ports through which Ukraine shipped grain under the grain agreement. Kiev had said it was ready to continue exporting from its own ports despite Russia’s withdrawal from the grain agreement.
Source: NTV Germany