US fears Russia will attack ships in Black Sea

According to the US, Russia is considering attacking civilian ships carrying grain from Ukraine. “The Russian military could expand its attacks on Ukrainian grain facilities to include attacks on civilian ships,” US National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge said yesterday (local time). The assumptions are based on newly declassified intelligence, Hodge said.

In his view, “our information indicates that Russia has laid additional sea mines in the approaches to Ukrainian ports.” The US believed it was “a concerted effort to justify attacks on civilian vessels in the Black Sea and to blame Ukraine for those attacks”.

A “possible” army for Moscow

As of Thursday, all ships bound for Ukraine in the Black Sea will be classified as ships “carrying military cargo,” the Russian Defense Ministry announced Wednesday. In addition, flagged cargo ships bound for Ukrainian ports will be considered conflicting parties on the side of Kiev in the future.

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