Russia May Attack Civilian Ships To Disrupt Ukrainian Grain Exports, Claims US Intelligence

The United Kingdom has stated, citing intelligence sources, that Russia may employ sea mines against civilian vessels in the Black Sea by laying them on the approach to Ukrainian ports.

The announcement that 12 cargo ships were prepared to enter a new Black Sea shipping corridor on their way to Ukrainian ports marked a significant rise in maritime traffic to Ukraine in defiance of a de facto Russian embargo of its seaports.

A statement released by the UK’s foreign office on Wednesday stated that intelligence reports suggested that Russia was considering using sea mines to prevent civilian ships from passing through a “humanitarian corridor” that had been set up by Ukraine to assist grain exports from Black Sea ports.

The Foreign Office issued a statement saying that Russia nearly certainly wants to strictly avoid the open sinking of civilian ships, instead blaming Ukraine falsely for attacks against civilian ships in the Black Sea.

The UK sought to reveal Russia’s strategies to prevent any such incident from happening by disclosing its evaluation of the intelligence, it continued.

The world is seeing what happens in the Black Sea and Russia’s cynical efforts to blame Ukraine for their attacks, according to James Cleverly, the UK’s foreign secretary.

In July, Russia withdrew from an agreement that had permitted Ukraine to export food items across the Black Sea, which has historically been its principal export route.

Soon after, Moscow said that any ships near Ukrainian Black Sea ports would be regarded as “parties to the Ukrainian conflict” and backers of Kyiv’s military endeavours.

Additionally, Russia has increased its drone and missile operations on Ukrainian ports, damaging 130 infrastructure installations and destroying nearly 300,000 tons of grain — adequate to feed over a million people for an entire year, per the UK.

Ukraine replied by establishing a “humanitarian corridor” on the Black Sea for cargo ships prepared to take a chance to travel its ports, and many ships have used the route afterward.
Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy, reported on Wednesday that over 20 vessels were getting ready to leave and enter Ukrainian marine ports.

A total of 12 vessels are expected to enter the new corridor and 10 to exit. As of right now, explained Pletenchuk, who did not specify when the ships would set sail.

The ships were travelling into the territorial waters of Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey, all of which are NATO members, and the Ukrainian defence forces were taking every precaution to enhance their safety, he said.

Local Ukrainian officials and lawmakers said that at least seven new ships have just entered Ukrainian waters and are scheduled to export at least 127,000 tons of grain of Ukrainian origin.

Additionally, exports from Kyiv’s Danube River ports to Romania and then by road to foreign markets have expanded.

Attacks by Ukraine against the Russian Black Sea fleet on the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed, and the port city of Sevastopol have risen since the grain deal’s termination.

According to a Washington, DC-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), attacks by Kyiv on Sevastopol were probably to blame for Moscow’s recent transfer of the Black Sea fleet ship from Crimea to the Russian port of Novorossiysk in the Krasnodar Krai region of Russia.

Per the ISW, between October 1 and 3, satellite images showed that Russia had moved ten boats to Novorossiysk from Sevastopol.

Last month, the UK accused Russia of trying to attack a civilian cargo vessel at the Black Sea port on 24 August in a missile attack it said was thwarted successfully by Ukraine’s air defence systems.

Further, the UK said it was working with Kyiv and other partners to enhance the safety of Ukrainian shipping. It was using its intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance capabilities to monitor Russia’s activity in the Black Sea.

References: ABC News, Aljazeera, Reuters

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Source: Maritime Shipping News