A drone attack on ships of the Black Sea Fleet puts Russia on the alert. Moscow suspects that Ukraine is using the security corridor of the grain ships for its attacks. The UN now disagrees.
The UN Humanitarian Aid Office (Ocha) has denied Russian allegations that a civilian cargo ship loaded with Ukrainian grain was involved in a drone attack on Russia. At the time of the attack, no such ships were in the “safe zone” of the Black Sea grain corridor, Ocha boss Martin Griffiths told the Security Council in New York. The corridor is “just a line on a map” and offers “neither cover nor protection for offensive or defensive military actions,” Griffiths emphasized.
Moscow pulled out of the United Nations grain deal on Sunday after its Black Sea fleet was the target of a massive drone attack off Russia’s annexed Crimea peninsula. Russia said one of the drones “may have been launched from one of the civilian ships chartered by Kyiv or its western clients for export of agricultural products from Ukrainian ports.”
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzia repeated this allegation before the UN Security Council today. Russia “cannot allow ships to pass unhindered without our inspection,” he said. He announced Russia’s “own measures” to “control what the international coordination center has allowed without our consent”. Russia described the use of a shipping corridor in the Black Sea as “unacceptable”. Because Ukraine uses the so-called security corridor for military operations against the Russian Federation, the Defense Ministry said.
Despite Moscow’s withdrawal from the agreement, cargo ships carrying grain and other agricultural products left Ukrainian ports today with the support of the UN and Turkey.
