Russian navy carries out live fire exercise in Black Sea

AFP | Moscow                          

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Russia’s navy carried out a live fire exercise in the Black Sea, the defence ministry said yesterday, days after the Kremlin declared it would consider ships travelling to Ukraine through the waterway potential military targets.

Moscow’s forces also struck the Black Sea port of Odesa for a fourth night in a row, hitting grain silos, officials said. After pulling out of a deal facilitating the safe shipment of grain from Ukraine, Russia has been targeting the Western-backed country’s grain supplies and vital infrastructure in its southern ports including Odesa and Mykolaiv.

“The Russians attacked Odesa with Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea,” said regional governor Oleg Kiper. Moscow targeted local grain silos and “destroyed 100 tons of peas and 20 tons of barley,” Kiper said, adding two people were injured. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the effect of such attacks went well beyond Ukraine.

“We are already seeing the negative effect on global wheat and corn prices which hurts everyone, but especially vulnerable people in the global south,” Guterres said in a statement. Russian President Vladimir Putin this week vowed to exact revenge after a Ukrainian attack damaged a bridge linking annexed Crimea to Russia and killed two people.

In eastern Ukraine, a couple was killed in Russian shelling of the city of Kostiantynivka, Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said. In Moscow, the defence ministry said that a missile boat “carried out live firing of anti-ship cruise missiles at the target ship” in the northwestern part of the Black Sea.

“The target ship was destroyed as a result of a missile strike,” the ministry said in a statement. Ships and fleet aviation had also “worked out actions to isolate the area temporarily closed to navigation, and also carried out a set of measures to detain the offending ship,” the ministry added.

Russia and China’s navies have also carried out a joint exercise in the Sea of Japan. The Kremlin said Wednesday it would consider cargo ships destined for Ukraine via the Black Sea potential military targets. Ukraine has also warned that from yesterday it may consider vessels heading to Russian ports “as carrying military cargo, with all the associated risks”.

Ukraine has previously said it would be ready to continue with grain exports from its southern ports following Moscow’s exit from the deal. Kyiv has called on the UN and neighbouring countries to secure safe passage for cargoes through joint patrols.

In Kyiv, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the country’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, Vadym Prystaiko, after he criticised the president’s response to a row over British military aid.