Global Courant
The Black Sea, which Ukraine needs to export its grain, has been a key battlefield in the ongoing war.
Russia’s Defense Ministry says its naval forces have destroyed three unmanned Ukrainian boats in the northern part of the Black Sea off the Crimean peninsula, the latest in a series of attacks around the disputed waterway that are crucial to Russia’s offensive against Kiev.
“Anti-sabotage missiles and bombs hit the area where the unmanned boats were detected,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app on Tuesday.
It added that an anti-mining and “anti-sabotage” operation was carried out off the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, where Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is based. Moscow has used that fleet, consisting of some thirty warships, to blockade the Ukrainian coastline and fire missiles at Ukrainian cities.
It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties in the latest attack on the Black Sea – and Kiev made no immediate comment.
Battle for the Black Sea
Ukraine has stepped up attacks in recent months on Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, helping the country regain limited control over the Black Sea and sometimes pushing Russian warships further east.
In September, Kiev claimed it had hit two naval ships and struck Sevastopol’s port infrastructure, appearing to have inflicted the most serious damage on that area during the war.
“Ukraine’s actions have wrested control of Ukraine’s western territorial waters from Russia and prevented the Black Sea Fleet from threatening Odesa with amphibious assault or tactical fires and providing logistical support to Russian forces in Kherson,” the retired general said. US Army Major Gordon Skip Davis Jr. told Al Jazeera in early October.
New shipping corridor
Ukraine’s involvement in the Black Sea has helped the country create a new “humanitarian corridor” in the waterway to accommodate its exports, after Moscow abandoned a deal in July to guarantee supplies from Kiev.
Since the opening of the corridor, which cuts through the waters of NATO member states Bulgaria and Romania to deter Russia, Ukraine has exported some 700,000 tons of grain, helping to sustain a key part of its economy.
“We see a trend towards an increase in the number of ships leaving our ports. We hope this will continue,” senior Ukrainian agriculture official Mykola Solsky said on Monday.
