Starting from 4 August, Ukraine has declared the waters of russian Black Sea ports as a zone of military threat.
This is stated in an announcement on the website of the State Hydrography scientific-production complex, subordinate to the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine.
The announcement pertains to six russian ports in the Black Sea: Sochi, Anapa, Novorossiysk, Gelendzhik, Taman, and Tuapse.
The reason for declaring the waters of russian ports a zone of military threat was named as the order of the Ukrainian naval forces from 4 August.
Following moscow's decision to exit the grain agreement, the russian Ministry of Defence announced that all vessels heading to the Black Sea towards Ukrainian ports will be considered as potential carriers of military cargo. The "flag countries of such vessels" will be considered involved in the Ukrainian conflict on Kyiv's side, the department declared.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, in turn, stated that it will also consider all vessels heading to the Black Sea to russian ports and ports on the Ukrainian territories occupied by russia, carrying military cargo "with all the associated risks".
Several attacks by sea drones have taken place in the past few days, targeting russian vessels.
On the night of Friday, sea drones attacked the naval base in Novorossiysk. The russian landing ship Olenegorskiy Gorniak likely sustained damage during the attack.
On Saturday, the Federal Agency for Sea and River Transport (Rosmorrechflot) reported that on 4 August, the russian tanker Sig received a hole as a result of a sea drone attack in the Kerch Strait.
Background. CNN showed satellite images of the russian ship Olenegorskiy Gorniak damaged by a drone attack.