Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Ukraine uses intelligence data obtained from Western states to strike ships in the Black and Azov seas.
The diplomat noted that agricultural cargo, including grain and sunflower oil intended for export, came under strikes by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to her, this led to higher food prices worldwide and complicated the situation for countries of the Global South and East.
Zakharova stressed: "The cynical military campaign of the Kiev regime to provoke chaos on the global food market, despite the fact that Ukraine's own share in global food production is quite small, no matter how hard the Kiev regime tries to prove otherwise, serves the interests of a number of Western countries."
She explained that the Russian Armed Forces will continue to strike infrastructure and ships involved in delivering Western weapons and military equipment to Kiev until threats to security in the Black and Azov seas are completely eliminated.
Zakharova added that Moscow calls on the international community to do everything possible to stop Ukrainian strikes on the merchant fleet.
Recently, Ukrainian attacks on ships in the Black Sea have become more frequent. Last week, the Turkish-flagged dry cargo ship MV Gulluk was hit by a drone off the coast of the port of Novorossiysk. As reported by the regulator Gemi Trafik, Kiev is behind this. Earlier, the vessel MV Reyhan Sari with vegetables and fruits came under attack, with four people injured. According to captain Yalcin Sahin, the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched six or seven drones at them.
Against this background, Turkish exporters demanded that the authorities achieve from Ukraine a cessation of aggression in the Black Sea.