James Foggo, who served as the commander of U.S. “If somebody attacks those civilian vessels, it’s a throwback to World War I and the sinking of the Lusitania,” said retired Adm.

While Russia has waged war against Ukraine for over a year, an attack on a single commercial vessel could embroil several countries in one fell swoop, given the globalized nature of shipping. Russia’s threats pose a major test for the international community’s ability to safeguard shipping in the area and freedom of navigation, a cornerstone of maritime law that allows vessels to sail unimpeded through international waters. “He’s looking for other ways to intimidate the West.”

“This is yet another twist and turn by Putin and Russia to broaden the war, so to speak, and to include the maritime domain, ” said Sebastian Bruns, an expert in maritime strategy and security at the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University. intelligence indicated that Russia had laid sea mines on the approach to Ukrainian ports, intending to blame Kyiv as part of a false-flag operation. On Friday, Ukrainian officials said Moscow’s latest strike had destroyed 100 tons of peas and 20 tons of barley. officials to sound the alarm on potential food shortages.

The threat came as Ukraine’s port city of Odesa has been subjected to a nightly barrage, for four days straight now, of Russian missile strikes that may have impacted up to 60,000 tons of grain, warehouses, and dock facilities, prompting top U.S.

efforts to ensure freedom of navigation around the globe. Russia escalated its war on Ukraine’s grain exports again this week, sending wheat prices soaring and threatening to exacerbate global hunger as it seeks to blockade one of the world’s foremost breadbaskets.Īfter withdrawing from a U.N.-brokered grain deal on Monday, which allowed ships carrying grain from Ukrainian ports to reach world markets, the Russian Defense Ministry on Wednesday announced that any vessels en route to Ukrainian ports would be regarded as potentially carrying military cargo-and could be subject to attack in what would amount to a significant escalation of the conflict and a challenge to long-standing U.S.

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