The United States assesses that explosions took place during the recent attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the bay of the port city of Sevastopol, a senior US Defense Department official said on Monday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st October, 2022) The United States assesses that explosions took place during the recent attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the bay of the port city of Sevastopol, a senior US Defense Department official said on Monday.
"We're tracking the reports and Russian statements regarding an alleged attack against Russian navy vessels in Sevastopol. We do assess that there were explosions there, but I'm not going to have a damage assessment to share nor am I going to have any further information to provide in terms of what may have caused these explosions," the official said during a press briefing.
On Saturday, Russia said it was suspending its participation in the grain exports agreement after Ukraine engaged in a drone attack on the Russian Black Sea fleet vessels in the bay of Sevastopol.
The Defense Department official noted that the United States has seen nothing to indicate that Russia has been firing at grain ships leaving the port of Odessa.
Earlier on Monday, the United Nations, Turkey and Ukraine agreed on the traffic route for 16 vessels in the Black Sea under the grain exports agreement, the Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Center (JCC) said. A total of nine vessels transited the maritime humanitarian corridor under the grain deal on Saturday and the United Nations has informed Russia of the movements, the JCC added.
On July 22, Russia and Ukraine signed a United Nations- and Turkey-brokered initiative to provide a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships with food and fertilizer exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said most of the ships carrying Ukrainian grain did not make it to the world's poorest countries and ended up in Europe. Russia has also maintained that the part of the agreement concerning Russian food exports was not working.
