Russia holds military drill in sea zone used for export of Ukraine's grain

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that it held military exercises on isolating an area in the Black Sea, which served as the corridor for transportation of grain from Ukraine.

The ministry said in a statement the forces of the Black Sea Fleet, ships and aircraft, provided training to isolate the area temporarily closed to navigation, and also carried out a set of measures to detain "intruder vessels."

According to the Defense Ministry, the control data and video monitoring from drones confirmed the successful execution of the exercise, the target ship was destroyed as a result of a missile strike.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that it has closed the humanitarian corridor, used for the grain export and will consider all ships en route to Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea as "potential carriers of military cargo."

The ministry said the decision was taken “in connection with the termination of the Black Sea (Grain) Initiative and the curtailment of the maritime humanitarian corridor.” It came into effect on Wednesday midnight (2100GMT).

The Kremlin announced Monday that it had suspended Russia’s participation in the Black Sea grain deal, saying the Russian part of the agreement was not implemented.

The agreement, initially signed in July of last year in Istanbul by Türkiye, the UN, Russia and Ukraine, was aimed at resuming grain exports from Ukrainian ports which had been halted as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war which began in February 2022.