Diksia.com - The Russian Navy conducted direct fire exercises in the Black Sea on Friday (07/21/2023).
The exercise comes days after the Kremlin announced it would consider ships sailing to Ukraine by water as potential military targets.
“A missile ship from the Moscow Black Sea Fleet conducted a direct launch of an anti-ship cruise missile at a target ship in the northwestern part of the Black Sea,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday, as reported by Al Jazeera.
“Ship and air fleets have also taken steps to temporarily isolate areas closed to shipping, and have also taken a number of measures to contain violating ships,” the source said.
The Moscow Times reported that Russia had declared that a cargo ship en route to a Ukrainian port on the Black Sea would be considered a cargo ship for military use.
The Kremlin has also declared an undefined area in the north-west and south-east of the international waters of the Black Sea as a danger zone for the time being.
Moscow also warned of the risks of establishing Black Sea shipping routes without its participation.
In response, Kiev said it was ready to resume grain exports through its southern ports even if Russia pulled out of the deal.
Russian missiles hit the port cities of Odessa and Mykolaiv
According to the RFI, at least two people were killed and more than 20 people were injured after Russia attacked the port cities of Odessa and Mykolaiv in Ukraine with rockets and drones on Wednesday night (07/19/2023).
According to the Ukrainian authorities, in addition to the port infrastructure, Russia also attacked civilian targets, including residential and administrative buildings.
Kiev said 60,000 tons of grain destined for export were destroyed in previous attacks on Odessa.
This prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accuse Russia of targeting grain shipments.
Russia is known to have bombed ports for three days since announcing on Monday (07/17/2023) that it would not renew its Black Sea Grains Initiative.
The agreement was previously negotiated to allow safe passage of ships carrying Ukrainian grain and other food during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On the other hand, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of “misleading” grain deals while reiterating Russia’s offer to return them if it could secure guarantees for its own food and fertilizer exports.
Western countries should say Russia has no trouble selling its food products, which are exempt from financial sanctions, and try to use its influence to force other concessions.
Both Ukraine and Russia are among the largest grain exporters in the world.
In fact, the United Nations says blocking Ukrainian exports could lead to a global food crisis.
However, no ships have left Ukrainian ports since the announcement.
Ukraine also hopes to resume exports via an alternative route through the waters of neighboring Romania.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, all ships calling at Ukrainian ports are considered potential military cargo ships.
According to the US, the threat indicated that Moscow could attack civilian shipping.
“We believe this was a coordinated action to justify any attack on civilian ships in the Black Sea and to hold Ukraine responsible for that attack,” said Adam Hodge, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
