Russia accuses Ukraine of seizing 68 international ships near Odessa
Igor Konashenkov.
Russia has accused Ukraine of seizing 68 foreign ships in its Black Sea ports near Odessa.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in Moscow on Thursday that the ships belonged to China, Turkey, Switzerland and Greece, among other countries.
He added that Russia opens a safe passage every day so that they can leave Ukrainian territorial waters.
According to the ships' crews, the Ukrainian authorities prevented foreign ships from leaving "because of the immediate risk of sinking", an allegation that could not be independently verified.
At the same time, the ministry rejected Kyiv's accusations that it had placed naval mines in the Black Sea, and accused Ukrainian units of deploying about 370 mines in the Black Sea.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, about 10 mines have escaped from their moorings and are floating in the western part of the sea.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has previously blamed Russia for the drifting of mines in the Black Sea, noting that they were seized in the Crimean port of Sevastopol in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea.
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