The Ukrainian Navy responded to Turkey’s concerns over the attack on Russian tankers

The Ukrainian Navy noted that Ukraine has not officially confirmed its involvement in the explosions on two Russian tankers in the Black Sea.

This was stated by the spokesman for the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Dmytro Pletenchuk, on the air of the Apostrophe TV channel.

According to him, the explosions occurred in Turkey’s exclusive economic zone, which is not its territorial waters, and therefore, different norms of international law apply there. In particular, he emphasized that Ukraine’s participation in the explosions has not been officially confirmed.

“For example, I have not seen any official reports. We, for our part, have also not officially confirmed either our participation or the participation of any of our colleagues. In particular, the affected vessels are not registered at all. They actually do not have a flag, but they had Russian crews. In fact, their status is not far from pirates,” Dmytro Pletenchuk emphasized.

He also stressed that in Turkey’s exclusive economic zone there are no such opportunities for stopping sanctioned vessels as in its territorial waters.

“In any case, there are enough reasons for concern, unfortunately, in particular in the Republic of Turkey in the Black Sea. And not only in them. Our neighbors are also facing the consequences of mine pollution by the Russians during this war,” the spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy noted.

Commenting on Turkey’s statements about preventing escalation in the Black Sea, he recalled that it is too late to talk about escalation, because the full-scale invasion actually began from the sea direction.

At the same time, the spokesman noted that the situation in the water area is currently showing positive dynamics: if at the beginning of the war the Russian fleet was actively operating in different parts of the sea, blocking communications and shipping, now the geography of hostilities has narrowed to the coast of the Russian Federation and the temporarily occupied Crimea. Most of Russia’s warships are forced to be based in Novorossiysk.

Recall that the Turkish Foreign Ministry expressed concern over the attack on tankers of Russia’s “shadow fleet”. Ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli said that the incidents occurred in the Turkish exclusive economic zone and created “serious risks to the safety of shipping, life, property and the environment”.

Earlier, USM reported that two sanctioned oil tankers KAIROS and VIRAT, belonging to the Russian “shadow fleet”, were hit in the Black Sea.