{"id":16690,"date":"2023-07-22T07:51:11","date_gmt":"2023-07-22T04:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/?p=16690"},"modified":"2023-07-23T11:07:04","modified_gmt":"2023-07-23T08:07:04","slug":"russian-navy-conducts-live-fire-exercise-in-black-sea-after-ukrainian-port-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/russian-navy-conducts-live-fire-exercise-in-black-sea-after-ukrainian-port-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian Navy conducts live-fire exercise in Black Sea after Ukrainian port attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Russian Navy conducted a live-fire naval exercise in the northwestern part of the Black Sea on July 21, 2023. The exercise comes days after Moscow pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative and announced that it would consider ships traveling to Ukraine\u2019s Black Sea ports as potential military targets.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia\u2019s Ministry of Defense released a statement on the Telegram saying that the Black Sea fleet of the Russian Navy “carried out live firing of anti-ship cruise missiles at the target ship in the combat training range in the northwestern part of the Black Sea.\u201d The statement said that the target ship was \u201cdestroyed as a result of a missile strike.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement also added that \u201cduring the joint exercise, the ships and fleet aviation undertook measures to isolate the area temporarily closed to navigation, and also carried out a set of measures to detain the offending ship.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After terminating the grain agreement this week, Moscow has warned of “risks” to establishing shipment routes in the area without its participation. Two days ago, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that cargo ships en route to Ukrainian ports through the Black Sea would be regarded as possibly carrying military cargo and would be treated as a naval threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Bulk grain cargo ship TQ Samsun is anchored in the Black Sea near the entrance of the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 17, 2023. (Image Credit: AP\/Sercan Ozkurnazli)<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In response, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said that Ukrainian forces would also consider all ships traveling to Russian and Russian-occupied ports on the Black Sea as potential carriers of military cargo. Ukraine\u2019s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that the Ukrainian armed forces have the means to repel the \u201cRussian aggression\u201d at sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Black Sea Grain Initiative\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia has escalated its military activities in the Black Sea region, especially after scrapping the extension possibilities for the Black Sea Grain Initiative<\/span><\/a>, an agreement that facilitated the exports of Ukrainian grains amid the war. The one-year agreement, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, expired on July 17 as Kremlin refused an extension. The grain agreement was reached to alleviate a global food crisis after Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Attack on the Ukrainian port<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon after pulling out of the Black Sea grain deal on July 17, Russian forces hit the Ukrainian port cities of Odesa and Mykolaiv with missiles and drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Ukrainian sources, at least two people died and more than 20 people were wounded during the attack. The attack also damaged port infrastructure, including residential and administrative buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukraine claims that the Russian attack on the port city has destroyed 60,000 tons of grain meant for export. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of “deliberately” targeting the supplies. Kyiv says that it is prepared to continue exporting grains through the Black Sea route, despite Russia\u2019s pulling out of the deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Pressure on Russia for restoration of grain deal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

International pressure has been mounting on Moscow for the restoration of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. The European Union described the move as “cynical”, and condemned Russia’s exit from the Ukraine grain export deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who played an important part in arranging the deal, said that he deeply regrets Russia\u2019s decision to terminate the Black Sea Grain Initiative, in effect ending a \u201clifeline\u201d for hundreds of millions worldwide facing hunger and\u00a0spiraling\u00a0food costs. \u00a0A UN body has warned that the termination deal could push as many as 47 million people into \u201cacute food insecurity\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, surrounded by ambassadors of different countries and UN officials, visits a port in Chornomork during the loading of grain on a Turkish ship close to Odesa, Ukraine, on July 29, 2022. (Image Credit: Ukrainian Presidential Press Office)<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Humanitarian organizations such as World Food Program (WFP) warned that blocking the grain shipment from Ukraine could create food shortages and put millions of people around the world at risk of severe hunger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On July 21, Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the extension of the Black Sea grain deal over a phone call. Turkish media reported that Erdogan told Zelenskyy that Turkiye will continue to strive to ensure peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A day earlier, Ukraine\u2019s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba traveled to Islamabad<\/span><\/a> where he and his counterpart in Pakistan Bilawal Bhutto Zardari emphasized the urgency to revive the agreement \u201cto return balance to the global food market to return prices under control.\u201d Pakistani foreign minister said that he will reach out to the UN Secretary-General and his counterparts in Turkiye and Russia to help restore the Black Sea Grain Initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Putin warns Poland against aggression against Belarus<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, on July 21, Moscow said will treat any aggression against its neighbor and ally Belarus would be considered an attack on Russia itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citing reports of plans for a Polish-Lithuanian unit to be used for operations in western Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said \u201cAs far as\u00a0Belarus\u00a0is concerned, it is part of the Union State. Unleashing aggression against Belarus will mean aggression against the Russian Federation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stated that Russia will use \u201call means at its disposal\u201d to defend Belarus. Poland, a NATO member, denied any territorial ambitions in Ukraine or Belarus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russian Navy conducted a live-fire naval exercise in the northwestern part of the Black Sea on July 21, 2023. The exercise comes days after Moscow pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative and announced that it would consider ships traveling to Ukraine\u2019s Black Sea ports as potential military targets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[62,1],"tags":[147,442,75,357,325,90,54,401,20,536,22,128,91],"class_list":["post-16690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-news","tag-belarus","tag-black-sea","tag-conflict","tag-europe","tag-exercise","tag-navy","tag-poland","tag-putin","tag-russia","tag-ships","tag-ukraine","tag-war","tag-warship"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Russian-Navy-drills.jpeg?fit=690%2C370&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jJWb-4lc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16690"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16728,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16690\/revisions\/16728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}