Ukraine issued a coastal warning on 4 August, declaring Russia’s Black Sea ports under military threat.
The relevant statement was officially published on the website of the State Hydrological Service, the CFTS portal reports.
According to the coastal warning, there is a war-related threat to shipping in the inner and outer roadsteads of the ports of Anapa, Novorossiysk, Gelendzhik, Tuapse, Sochi, and Taman.
By issuing this coastal warning, Ukraine is essentially taking steps to block Russia’s Black Sea ports by declaring them unsafe. Given that Russia exports about USD 100 billion worth of goods through its Black Sea ports annually, restricting or complicating commercial shipping to these ports will give Ukraine a powerful lever not only to unblock its ports fully but also to meet other requirements.
As reported earlier, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense recently announced that Ukraine might consider all vessels sailing through the Black Sea to Russian seaports as vessels carrying military cargo from 21 July 2023, with all the associated risks. In addition, according to the ministry, shipping in the Northeastern parts of the Black Sea and Ukraine’s Kerch - Yenikale Strait is prohibited and considered dangerous from 20 July 2023.
This was in response to the Russian Defense Ministry’s 19 July warning that several areas in the northwestern and southeastern parts of the Black Sea's international waters were temporarily unsafe for shipping.
As reported on 4 August, a Ukrainian maritime drone hit a large Russian landing ship, the Olenegorsky Gornyak, in the port of Novorossiysk, where the Russian fleet base is based. This attack once again demonstrated the Russian naval fleet’s vulnerability and that the spread of military operations there poses a real danger to merchant shipping, as Ukraine has warned.
