Russia has laid additional mines on the approaches to Ukrainian ports
20.07.2023 - 09:30
The picture is illustrative.
Photo: illustrative.
Russia wants to cut off Ukraine from exporting grain by sea. To do this, in particular, it strengthened the mining of the approaches to Ukrainian ports.
Invaders may target civilian vessels in the Black Sea and blame Ukraine after Russia’s decision to derail the Grain Agreement, White House National Defense Council spokesman Adam Hodge said, CNN reports.
According to the spokesman, Russia has installed additional sea mines on the approaches to Ukrainian ports.
“We believe that this is a coordinated attempt to justify any attacks on civilian vessels in the Black Sea and to place the blame for these attacks on Ukraine,” Hodge said.
It will be recalled that at the beginning of the week, Russia withdrew from the Grain Agreement, as well as revoked guarantees of shipping safety and declared the northwestern part of the Black Sea “dangerous”.
And on July 19, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced that they would consider ships going to Ukrainian ports as military targets.
