United Kingdom: The United Kingdom has warned that Russia may use sea mines against civilian shipping in the Black Sea, including by laying them while approaching Ukrainian ports.
The warning comes amid Ukraine’s navy saying that 12 cargo vessels were ready to enter the Black Sea shipping corridor on their way to Ukrainian ports.
The UK’s Foreign Office said in a statement that intelligence assessments pointed out that Russia was considering the use of sea mines to deter civilian ships traveling through a “humanitarian corridor” established by Ukraine for grain exports from the Black Sea ports.
“Russia almost certainly wants to avoid openly sinking civilian ships, instead falsely laying blame on Ukraine for any attacks against civilian vessels in the Black Sea,” the Foreign Office noted.
“By releasing our assessment of this intelligence, the UK seeks to expose Russia’s tactics to deter any such incident from occurring,” the statement added.
The UK’s Foreign Secretary Mr. James Cleverly commented that “the world is watching” what happens in the Black Sea and “Russia’s cynical attempts to lay blame on Ukraine for their attacks.”
In July, Russia ended a deal that had allowed Ukraine to safely export food products out through the Black Sea. Shortly after that, Russia announced that ships in Ukraine’s Black Sea ports would be considered potential supporters of Kyiv’s war efforts and “parties to the Ukrainian conflict”.
According to the UK, Russia has launched aerial attacks on Ukraine’s ports with drones and missile raids that have so far damaged 130 infrastructure facilities and destroyed nearly 300,000 metric tons of grain, which could be used to feed more than one million people for a year.
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