Published 2023-07-20 23:19
Russia threatened attacks on cargo ships.
Now Ukraine responds with the same coin.
From midnight, all boats in Russian and Ukrainian ports can be seen as part of the war.
“The Kremlin has turned the Black Sea into an area of insecurity,” Ukraine said in a statement.
On Wednesday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced that all ships arriving at Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea should be viewed as “potential carriers of military equipment.”
As of midnight Thursday night local time, ships arriving in Ukraine would be seen as “party to the Ukrainian conflict on the side of the Kiev regime.”
Ukraine’s response came on Thursday. According to Kiev, they can now target all shipping going in and out of Russian-occupied ports. It applies from midnight on the night of Friday, according to a statement from the country’s Ministry of Defense.
“Black Sea unsafe”
“By openly threatening Ukrainian ships carrying food from Ukrainian ports, targeting civilian infrastructure with missiles and drones in peaceful cities, and creating a military threat on commercial sea lanes, the Kremlin has turned the Black Sea into an area of insecurity,” the ministry writes.
The uncertainty applies, according to Ukraine, “primarily to Russian ships on their way to their domestic ports and to ports in Ukraine under temporary occupation. The Russian authorities bear full responsibility for the risks you are exposed to.”
Maritime drones
In the warning, Ukraine refers to the Russian robotic cruiser Moskva, which was sunk in the Black Sea in April last year.
“Moscow’s fate proves that Ukraine’s defense forces have the necessary resources to repel Russian aggression at sea,” the statement said.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser in the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, sends a warning to Russia.
“Ukrainian-made maritime drones can destroy stationary and moving targets anywhere in the Black Sea,” he writes on Twitter.
Warns of sea mines
The increased stakes in the sea south of Ukraine come days after Russia on Monday withdrew from the grain agreement that the UN negotiated between the countries. The agreement had allowed grain to be exported from Ukrainian ports to prevent famine in some of the world’s poorest countries.
“Russia has once again brutally violated the freedom of navigation enjoyed by the entire world, and continues to deliberately undermine the international food supply by putting millions of people at risk of starvation,” writes Ukraine in its statement.
On Wednesday, the White House warned that Russia had placed more sea mines near the approaches to Ukrainian ports.
“We believe this is a coordinated effort to justify any attack on civilian vessels in the Black Sea and place the blame for these attacks on Ukraine,” National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge said in a statement.