Russia has laid sea mines on the approaches to Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea. Also, the Russian Federation can attack civilian vessels and blame Ukraine for this, Adam Hodge, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council, said.
“We believe that this is a coordinated effort to justify any attacks against civilian ships in the Black Sea and lay blame on Ukraine for these attacks,” Hodge said.
The day before, on July 19, Russia also threatened all ships going to Ukrainian ports. “Starting at 00:00 Moscow time on July 20, all vessels heading to Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea will be considered potential carriers of military goods,” the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation said.
During the week, Russian propagandists repeatedly called on the Kremlin to “destroy the system of grain terminals of Ukraine,” particularly to “strike the ports of Mykolaiv and Odesa.”
At the same time, Russia struck Odesa. As a result of the attack on the infrastructure in the port of Chornomorsk, 60 thousand tons of grain were destroyed. The grain was to be delivered to China.
“This attack by terrorists proves that their target is not only Ukraine and not only the lives of our people. About one million tons of food were stored in the attacked ports. Exactly the volume that should have been delivered to consumer countries in Africa-Asia long ago,” President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
On July 17, Russia withdrew from the “grain deal” within the Black Sea Grain Initiative framework. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation announced that they are closing the maritime humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea’s north-western waters, thus restoring the regime of a temporarily dangerous area there. At the same time, Ukraine announced that it is ready to continue functioning the agreements without the Russian Federation.
Cover: Shutterstock
