Cargo ship enters Danube despite Russia's Black Sea missile threat
DESPITE warnings issued by Russia last month, at least six civilian cargo ships appear to have disregarded the cautionary measures, reports the Drive of British Indian Ocean Territory.
One of the ships has entered the Danube River, while the other five are seemingly anchored in the Black Sea near the river's mouth.
These vessels have indicated that they are heading to the Ukrainian up-river port of Izmail, as revealed by data from the openly shared Automatic Information System (AIS) published on the MarineTraffic website.
On July 19, following its withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Russia issued a warning that any vessels sailing in the waters of the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports would be considered potential carriers of military cargo.
This reinitiated a blockade on Black Sea shipping to and from Ukraine, which had been put on hold during the period when the grain deal was in effect.
News of the vessels ignoring the warning was initially reported on July 30 by open-source tracker Markus Jonsson in a tweet on the same day.
The ships involved in this action are Ams1, Afer, Bosphorus Queen, Sahin 2, Sealock, and Yilmaz Kaptan. As of 2 PM eastern time, all of them had declared their intent to sail to Izmail, with Ams1 being the only one that entered the Danube River.
Mr Jonsson's report stated that Ams1, Sahin 2, and Yilmaz Kaptan, sailing respectively from Israel, Greece, and Turkey, openly advertised their destination as Ukraine via AIS.
Ams1 and Sahin 2 passed through the Bosporus Strait, while Yilmaz Kaptan sailed west from northern Turkey, as confirmed by satellite imagery.
On the same day, three more ships - Sealock, Bosphorus Queen, and Afer - also sailed through the Black Sea towards Ukrainian ports, as reported by Mr Jonsson.
Mr Jonsson acknowledged that AIS data could be manipulated and there might be additional ships not found in his search.
Ukraine's Black Sea ports have become a particular target for Russia, especially after the attack on the Kerch Bridge on July 17.
The importance of the Danube River ports, located around 130 miles southwest of the attacked region, has increased since the assaults occurred.
Russian forces have reportedly destroyed at least 60,000 tons of grain and damaged port facilities and infrastructure in missile and drone attacks on Odesa and nearby ports.
Furthermore, Russia launched a drone attack on the Ukrainian Danube River port of Reni, located less than half a mile across the river from Romania, on July 24.
Following the Russian warning, international ships heading toward Ukraine largely halted their movements, with more than a dozen vessels dropping anchor near the coast.
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