Ukrainian drones travelled through the same corridor as grain ships, Putin claims
Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that the Ukrainian drones had travelled through the same corridors the grain ships used, Reuters reported.
In his address following the global outcry over the grain transport ban, Putin on Monday (31 October) assured that Russia is not ending its participation in a deal to export much-needed Ukrainian grain through Black Sea ports but rather is suspending it.
"We are not saying that we are ceasing our participation in this operation. No, we are saying that we are suspending it," Putin told a televised news conference after a meeting with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Sochi, Russia.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Putin's comments were his first since Moscow announced on Saturday it was freezing participation in the United Nations-brokered Black Sea agreement.
"And thus they created a threat both to our ships, which must ensure the safety of grain exports and to the civilian ships that are engaged in this," he said. Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the attack.
Other participants in the deal pressed ahead with the export of grain on Monday, even though Russia said this was risky.
"Ukraine must guarantee that there will be no threats to civilian vessels or to Russian supply vessels," said Putin, noting that under the terms of the deal, Russia is responsible for ensuring security.
Even after Russia on Saturday suspended its participation in the deal to export agricultural produce from Ukrainian ports following attacks on ships in Crimea, 12 cargo vessels carrying grain set sail from the country's Black Sea ports two days later on Monday (31 October) after the deal's brokers, Turkey and the United Nations, notified Moscow.
The departures of the ships, which had been authorized to sail before the deal was suspended, appeared to pass without incident.
Later on Monday evening, Russia's Defense Ministry issued a statement saying that vessel traffic through the safety corridor established for the grain initiative was "unacceptable."
According to a report of The New York Times, it accused Ukraine's military, without offering evidence, of using the corridor for "conducting operations" against Russia and said "there can be no question of ensuring safety" until Ukraine made additional pledges not to use it for "military purposes".
