No breakthrough with NATO aircraft occurred: Russia does not block Ukrainian ports on Danube
The recorded movement of three civilian vessels heading to Ukrainian ports on the Danube via the Black Sea, supposedly escorted by NATO aircraft, had nothing to do with the Russian blockade of Ukrainian seaports.
Previously, Ekonomichna Pravda reported that the Israeli ship Ams1 ignored Russia's "blockade" of the Black Sea and entered the Ukrainian mouth of the Danube, followed by two more vessels from Greece and Türkiye/Georgia. After that, Forbes reported that NATO aircraft were observing three civilian cargo ships that "broke through" the Russian maritime blockade.
However, this information is inaccurate.
Ekonomichna Pravda Pravda explains why there was no breakthrough.
After withdrawing from the Grain Initiative, the Russian Federation stated that all vessels that would be sent to Ukrainian ports starting from 20 July would be considered by Russia as potential carriers of military cargo. But there is a detail to it: in fact, Russia has only withdrawn the guarantees it gave under the Grain Initiative, so we are talking only about the safety of transportation to and from the seaports of Ukraine.
Moreover, Ukraine issued a mirror statement, warning that it would consider all vessels sent to the ports of the Russian Federation or occupied Ukrainian ports to be transporting military cargo.
But the Ukrainian Danube ports began to be actively used after the liberation of Zmiinyi (Snake) Island from Russian invaders, regardless of the work of the Grain Initiative. And even though Russia attacked Port Reni and continues to attack port infrastructure in Ukraine, this is not due to Russian threats to block the Black Sea.
If we view archived data of the ship tracking system on the portal Marinetraffic, it can be seen that during the last week, the vessels continued to move to Reni, Izmail and Ust-Dunai ports. Moreover, vessels constantly run through the Bosporus to the Black Sea – including to the ports of NATO countries, primarily from and to the Constanța (Romania) and the ports of Türkiye.
Ship traffic across the Bosporus on 28 July
At the same time, only one of the three civilian vessels was heading to the Danube port of Ukraine on the morning of 1 August:
- The Sierra Leone-flagged AMS1 vessel operated by Türkiyeʼs NEVZAT AYDIN DENIZCILIK TICARET LTD STI. It came out of Ashdod, Israel, to the Port of Izmail.
- The Sahin 2 vessel, under the Vanuatu flag, is operated by Turkish company SAHIN DENIZ KARA NAKLIYE INSAAT SANAYI VE TIC. It left Crete (Greece), but it had no destination and stopped on its road.
- The ship Yilmaz Kaptan under the flag of Vanuatu, operated by Turkish company DOGANBEY DENIZ. It came from the Georgian Poti and is moving to Galați, Romania.
Regarding the information about the possible cover of ships by NATO aircraft, last week, John Kirby, the coordinator of strategic communications of the US National Security Council, in an interview with Voice of America, said that the United States and its allies don't discuss opportunities for escorting Ukrainian vessels loaded with grain in the Black Sea.
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