A Russian warship on Sunday fired warning photographs and boarded a cargo vessel it mentioned was heading to Ukraine within the wake of pulling out of a deal that may permit Kyiv to move grain via the Black Sea.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense mentioned the captain of the Sukru Okan, a cargo ship crusing beneath the flag of Palau, refused to cease for an inspection of the “potential carriage of prohibited goods” whereas it was heading to the Ukrainian port of Izmail.

“The Russian combat ship fired warning shots from automatic small arms to forcibly stop the vessel,” officers advised TASS, the official Russian information company.

The Kremlin has mentioned that any ship headed to Ukraine can be thought-about as doubtlessly carrying weapons. The captain of the Vasily Bykov Russian patrol ship despatched troops to the Sukru Okan by a Ka-29 helicopter.

“After the inspection group completed its work aboard the Sukru Okan, the vessel continued sailing toward the port of Izmail,” the Russian Defense Ministry mentioned. “The Black Sea Fleet’s ships continue patrols in the designated area.”

A senior Ukrainian official on Sunday known as the incident an act of piracy and mentioned it must be condemned by the worldwide neighborhood.

The “deliberate attack and forced inspection by Russia of Sukru Okan international civilian bulk carrier … is a clear violation of international law of the sea,” Mykhailo Podolyak, a high adviser to Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, mentioned on X, the social media website previously often called Twitter. “Ukraine will draw all the necessary conclusions and choose the best possible response.”

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