Russia deploys 14 warships to Black Sea, no missile carriers: Ukraine

Russia deployed 14 ships on combat duty in the Black Sea, however, no missile carriers were among them, amidst high tensions after a Russian warship fired at a civilian cargo ship, the Ukrainian military said on Monday.

“As of 2:00 p.m., the enemy ship grouping in the Black Sea is deployed in the amount of 14 units, in the Azov Sea. No missile carriers have been spotted on combat duty,” Ukraine’s Operational Command South reported.

It added that “the frigate, which attacked Odesa at night with its entire stock of Kalibr, returned to its basing point.”

This comes as Russia’s defense ministry said a Russian naval ship Vasily Bykov forcibly stopped the Palau-flagged dry cargo ship Sukru Okan heading for the Ukrainian port of Izmail for inspection. It did so by firing “warning shots”.

This was the first such incident since Russia announced in July that it will start considering all vessels traveling on the Black Sea heading to Ukrainian ports as “potential military cargo carriers”. It also declared a number of areas in the northwestern and southeastern parts of the international waters of the Black Sea as “temporarily dangerous for navigation,” and adding that the flag countries of ships traveling to Ukrainian ports will be considered parties to the conflict on Kyiv’s side.

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