Russian news reported that a patrol boat and a combat aircraft fired warning shots at a British destroyer in the Black Sea. BBC.
And the Interfax news agency, citing a statement from the Ministry of Defense, wrote that HMS Defender entered Russian territorial waters near the Crimea, near Cape Fiolent. The British Ministry of Defense has not issued any statement yet.
Moscow said that after the patrol boat fired twice and a Su24-M fighter jet dropped four bombs in its path, HMS Defender changed direction. According to Interfax, the British Embassy’s defense attache to the Russian Defense Ministry has been summoned. According to the British Royal Navy website, HMS Defender is conducting missions in the Black Sea.
Update
On Wednesday afternoon, Britain’s Ministry of Defense denied that such a thing had happened and wrote that no warning shot had been fired at the Defender, a British Royal Navy ship that continues to pass “in Ukrainian territorial waters” in accordance with international law.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry, the British side is aware that the Russians are conducting artillery maneuvers in the Black Sea, and this was drawn to the attention of the shipping community in advance. At the end of the statement, the British Ministry of Defense confirmed that no one had fired a warning shot at the Defender.
According to the statement, the ministry is unable to identify allegations that bombs were dropped on the British warship. Wednesday Ben Wallace In a personal statement, the British Defense Minister denied the news of the incident.
Wallace noted in a statement on the wallet’s Twitter page that Defender made a routine transit from Odessa to Georgia on the Black Sea. According to the Minister, the British warship, as is customary on this route, passed through an internationally recognized traffic dividing lane and left this sea lane safely at three-quarters of ten in the morning.
The British Defense Secretary said in a statement on Wednesday that the defender was routinely escorted by Russian ships during his passage, and the Russian side informed the British ship that exercises were taking place in its wider environment.
According to a presentation by the Ministry of Defense in London on Wednesday, a memorandum was signed in Odessa on the ship Defender, providing for the implementation of a bilateral agreement on capacity-building for the Ukrainian Navy, concluded last October.
According to the British Ministry of Defense, the agreement covers, among other things, the sale of missiles, the integration of new and existing naval patrols and airborne systems in Ukraine, and the joint production of eight high-speed missile-powered warships.
The agreement includes the construction of a new Ukrainian naval base in the Black Sea, which will be the main naval base for the Ukrainian Navy, as well as the establishment of a new base in the Sea of Azov.
Under the agreement, a British defense industrial group called Babcock International will also participate in a program to build the capacity of a modern Ukrainian frigate, and the British government will sell to Ukraine two refurbished ships capable of locating and destroying naval mines.
