Russia May Target Civilian Shipping In Black Sea, White House Warns

On Wednesday, the White House warned that Russia could expand targeting of Ukraine’s grain facilities, including planned attacks on civilian shipping in the Black Sea.

Adam Hodge, National Security Council spokesperson at the White House, said that the U.S. officials have information that shows Russia laid several additional sea mines in its approaches to Ukraine’s ports.
He added that this is a coordinated attempt to justify attacks against civilian vessels in the Black Sea and blame Ukraine for such attacks.

Hodge also added that Russia had declared that vessels sailing to the ports in Ukraine via the waters of the Black Sea would be considered potential carriers of military cargo.

Besides such a coordinated effort, it was also seen that Russia strategically targeted Ukrainian grain export ports in Odesa with its drones and missiles on July 18 and 19. He added that the event led to the significant destruction of the Ukrainian agricultural infrastructure and 60,000 tons of grains.

On Wednesday, Ukraine accused Russia of impairing its grain export infrastructure through “hellish” strikes carried out overnight and focused mainly on two of the Black Sea ports, pledging not to be intimidated from trying to keep the grain exports moving out of the ports.

Reference: Reuters, Bloomberg

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Source: Maritime Shipping News