Britain on Thursday warned that Russia might use sea mines to deter cargo vessels from using Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea. Since withdrawing from the Black Sea grain deal, Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s grain silos and key ports to disrupt the war-torn country’s exports.
The United Kingdom’s foreign office in a statement said, “Intelligence released today suggests Russia may use sea mines to target civilian shipping in the Black Sea. Russian attacks have already destroyed enough grain to feed more than one million people for a year.” The UK suggested that Russia would blame Ukraine for the attacks on civilian ships,
“The UK assesses Russia is seeking to target civilian shipping travelling through Ukraine’s ‘humanitarian corridor’ in order to deter the export of Ukrainian grain. This would continue Russia’s attempts to pressure the Ukrainian economy. Russia almost certainly wants to avoid openly sinking civilian ships, instead falsely laying blame on Ukraine for any attacks against civilian vessels in the Black Sea,” the foreign office said.
In the statement, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said, “Russia’s pernicious targeting of civilian shipping in the Black Sea demonstrates Putin’s total disregard for civilian lives and the needs of the world’s most vulnerable.”
British intelligence reported that Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s grain and civil infrastructure since July as part of attempts to disrupt Ukraine’s grain export. “Since the withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Russia has damaged 130 port infrastructure facilities in Odesa, Chornomorsk and Reni. Russia also destroyed almost 3,00,000 tonnes of grain – more than the total amount Russia promised to donate to African states, and enough to feed over 1.3 million people for a year.
According to reports, without the Black Sea initiative, Ukraine, in 2022 provided 50 per cent of wheat for the World Food Programme and due to disruption in the deal, WFP would now have to replace Ukrainian produce with expensive or lower-quality wheat.
UK’s defence secretary recently said they were considering providing necessary naval support to cargo ships in the Black Sea, following Russia’s withdrawal from the grain deal which facilitated the export of grains from the war-torn country. Britain’s defence secretary Grant Shapps said, “It’s important that we don’t allow a situation to establish by default that somehow international shipping isn’t allowed in that water (Black Sea). So I think there are a lot of places where Britain can help advise. [I] did discuss it with President Zelenskyy and many others.”
Turkey and the UN brokered the Black Sea grain deal between Russia and Ukraine to ensure the safe export of vegetable produce from the country. After Russia’s withdrawal from the deal, Ukraine established a humanitarian corridor to ensure safe exports.
