Moscow says Kyiv attacks Russian transport ships en route to Bosphorus

The Russian Defence Ministry has said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked Russian civilian transport vessels heading towards the Bosphorus Strait in the southwestern Black Sea on the night of August 1.

The attack was carried out by three semi-submersible uncrewed boats. According to the military ministry, all the marine drones were detected and destroyed by Russian Navy ships, Kommersant reported citing the ministry.

Earlier on August 1, the Defence Ministry said that the Ukrainian armed forces had attempted to attack the Black Sea Fleet patrol ships Sergey Kotov and Vasily Bykov with three maritime drones this night. The incident took place in the southwestern part of the Black Sea, 340 kilometres southwest of Sevastopol - in the same direction as the Bosporus Strait.

On July 18, Russia suspended its participation in the deal on the export of Ukrainian grain due to the failure to meet its conditions. After that, the Russian Defence Ministry announced that starting from 20 July, all vessels sailing to Ukrainian ports, including grain tankers, would be considered carriers of military cargo. Russia will declare the countries under whose flags these ships are travelling to be involved in a military conflict. Ukraine responded with the same measures.

The Russian Foreign Ministry later explained the Defence Ministry's statement, specifying that Russia would request an inspection of a particular vessel if there were suspicions that it was coming "with something bad".

On July 27, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that Russia had blocked almost all Ukrainian ports.