The Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims that Russia uses naval mines captured in the Black Sea in Sevastopol in 2014 as uncontrolled drifting ammunition.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has said this in a statement, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
"Since the beginning of the large-scale aggressive war against Ukraine, the Russian Federation has been intensifying the illegal activities of its naval forces in the Black Sea. In addition to capturing and destroying civilian naval vessels, bombing the territory of Ukraine from the sea, Russia has come up with a new way of sea robbery, which is the use of naval mines as uncontrolled drifting ammunition. It was such drifting mines that were discovered on March 26-28, 2022 off the coast of Turkey and Romania," the statement said.
The Foreign Ministry reports that according to the results of the identification, it was established that these are naval mines that were not registered with the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the beginning of 2022.
These mines were captured by the Russian armed forces in 2014 during the military invasion and temporary occupation of Ukrainian Sevastopol.
Thus, Russia, using naval mines from military depots seized in 2014, deliberately resorts to provocations and discrediting Ukraine in front of international partners.
The statement notes that by such actions the aggressor state seeks to hide its illegal activities in the Black Sea and evade responsibility for war crimes and sea robbery.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine notes that Russia's deliberate use of drifting sea mines turns them into de facto indiscriminate weapons, which threaten, first of all, civilian shipping and human life at sea in the entire Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, but also the Kerch and Black Sea straits.
"The responsibility for the use of drifting sea mines, as well as their unpredictable consequences, lies exclusively with the Russian Federation and its naval forces," the statement said.
Ukraine insists on bringing Russia to international responsibility for committing illegal actions in the Black Sea, war crimes and, in particular, the use of naval mines as indiscriminate weapons, which are spread uncontrollably by the Black Sea.
Ukraine notified the International Maritime Organization, as well as international partners, of Russia's use of drifting mines in the Black Sea through the channels of the International Automated Maritime Navigation Security System (NAVTEX).
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that the Russian military is increasing the naval composition of the fleet in the waters of the Sea of Azov.
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