Russia and Ukraine warn each other against ships being considered as “military cargo”

Russia and Ukraine, both warned each other against the travelling of ships in the Black Sea, saying that it will be considered as "potential military cargo", Al Jazeera reported on Thursday.

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday that it would deem all ships travelling to Ukraine to be potentially carrying military cargo on behalf of Kyiv and “the flag countries of such ships will be considered parties to the Ukrainian conflict”.

In a statement on the Telegram platform, the defence ministry said it would implement its new stance towards ships in the Black Sea starting at midnight Moscow time (21:00 GMT Wednesday).

In response to threats from Moscow, Kyiv also warned that all ships calling at Russian-controlled ports in the Black Sea “may be considered by Ukraine as carrying military cargo with all the relevant risks”, Al Jazeera reported.

The warning, issued in a statement on Thursday by Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence, said this takes effect at midnight on Friday (21:00 GMT Thursday).

Meanwhile, Moscow’s warnings — withdrawing the previous security guarantees — came after Kyiv said it would set up a temporary shipping route to continue grain exports following Moscow’s withdrawal from a deal that permitted food shipments from Ukraine’s ports, AL Jazeera reported.

Russia also declared southeastern and northwestern parts of the Black Sea’s international waters to be temporarily unsafe for navigation, the ministry said, without giving details about the parts of the sea which would be affected.

Ukraine said on Wednesday it was establishing a temporary shipping route via Romania, one of the neighbouring Black Sea countries, Al Jazeera reported.

Earlier on Monday, Russia announced it was suspending its participation in a UN-brokered deal that allowed the export of Ukrainian grain. The agreement, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in July 2022, was scheduled to expire at 5 pm ET.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov announced that Moscow will not renew the agreement, saying it "has been terminated." The deal had allowed Ukraine to export grain by sea, as per the CNN report.

In withdrawing from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that its government was removing guarantees for safe navigation in the Black Sea, according to CNN.

Moscow had also accused Ukraine of using the Black Sea grain corridor for “combat purposes”.

While, Kyiv hit back at Moscow, stating that Russia must stop playing hunger games with people around the world.