United Kingdom starts patroling Black Sea

The United Kingdom’s planes patrol over the Black Sea. Aircraft have been conducting surveillance flights to deter Russia from attacking civilian grain ships in recent weeks, the UK government said for the first time.

“We will use our intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance to monitor Russian activity in the Black Sea, call out Russia if we see warning signs that they are preparing attacks on civilian shipping or infrastructure in the Black Sea, and attribute attacks to prevent false flag claims that seek to deflect blame from Russia,” the UK’s government stated. 

In addition, London reported that Russia attacked a civilian cargo ship in the Odesa port with missiles on August 24.

“Thanks to declassified intelligence, we know the Russian military targeted a civilian cargo ship in the Black Sea with multiple missiles on the 24th of August,” Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said.

Two Kalibr missiles were aimed at a Liberian-flagged ship. Ukrainian air defense repelled the Russian attack.

On August 16, the first civilian ship – the Joseph Schulte container ship under the flag of Hong Kong – departed through the new Ukrainian humanitarian corridor from the Odesa port. Previously, on July 17, Russia withdrew from the “grain deal” within the framework of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.