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Politico: Ukraine declares war on Russian ships in the Black Sea

Russian Black Sea ports and ships, including tankers carrying millions of barrels of oil to Europe, could justifiably be attacked by the Ukrainian military as part of efforts to weaken Moscow's war machine, a senior Kiev official warned Monday, as quoted by Politico.

"Everything the Russians move back and forth on the Black Sea are our valid military targets. This story started with Russia blocking our grain corridor, threatening to attack our ships, destroying our ports. Our maritime infrastructure is under constant attack," said Oleg Ustenko, economic adviser to Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski.

Over the weekend, Ukraine declared the waters around Russia's Black Sea port a "war-risk zone" from 23 August "until further notice". The area includes major Russian ports such as Novorossiysk, Anapa, Gelendzhik, Tuapse, Sochi and Taman.

Last month, Russia shipped nearly 59 million barrels of crude oil, a third of its total exports, from the strategic Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, according to intelligence company Kpler. Of these, 32 million barrels went to EU countries. The port also handles other fuels such as diesel, gasoline and naphtha, in addition to grain for the global market.

Novorossiysk is also where the Caspian Pipeline Consortium oil pipeline ends, bringing up to 1.3 million barrels a day of oil from Kazakhstan - from where it is shipped to world markets, Politico adds.

Novorossiysk is also home to a major Black Sea Fleet naval base. Last week, a Ukrainian maritime drone hit and damaged a Russian military landing ship.

Also, Russia's federal maritime agency, RosMorRechFlot, reported that a Russian oil tanker, Sig, was hit following a possible attack launched by Ukrainian forces near the occupied Crimean peninsula.

Viorica Rusica

Viorica Rusica

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