The British Ministry of Defense believes that the shots that Russian naval forces fired off the coast of the Russian-annexed Crimea in the Black Sea were unrelated to the passage of a British Navy ship.
The British Ministry of Defense announced this on Twitter, the Ukrainian News Agency reports.
"No warning shots have been fired at HMS Defender. The Royal Navy ship is conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law," the Ministry said.
"We believe the Russians were undertaking a gunnery exercise in the Black Sea and provided the maritime community with prior warning of their activity. No shots were directed at HMS Defender and we do not recognize the claim that bombs were dropped in her path," the British Defense Ministry added.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba considers the firing of warning shots at a British Navy ship near the Crimean coast in the Black Sea by Russian forces as evidence of the need for closer cooperation between Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
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