On October 31, 2022, at least 12 sea transports began moving along the previously established corridor for the transportation of grain from Odessa in the direction towards Turkey.
Earlier, the Russian authorities announced that they were suspending their participation in the “grain” deal after the attack of the Russian Black Sea Fleet ships on the roads of Sevastopol.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation informed that the movement of dry cargoes along the transport corridor of the “grain deal” is unacceptable. No security guarantees are valid for dry cargoes passing through this corridor any more.
On October 29 Russian ships were attacked by British-made unmanned sea and air combat systems. At least one maritime drone was launched from a cargo vessel following a previously agreed secure maritime corridor to transport grain from Ukrainian ports.
As a result of the attack, the “Ivan Golubets” minesweeper was badly damaged. A naval drone jumped onto the deck through the trawl discharge hatch and exploded on the upper deck.
The tiller compartment was badly damaged. The frigate “Admiral Makarov” also sustained minor damage.
The events of October 31 showed that the warnings of the Russian side were ignored by the other participants of the “grain deal”. Another large caravan of vessels passed from Odessa towards Turkey. The animated video below clearly demonstrates the formation and passage of the caravan.
In the case of the October 31 caravan, there is the suspicious vessel “Ocean Legend”. This vessel first went toward the caravan, then turned around and went together with the ships of the caravan, and then sailed westward. It is likely that this vessel took on board some cargo secretly transported from the territory of Ukraine.
“Ocean Legend”
Another oddity is that from the section of the UN website dedicated to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the agreed list of ships involved in the transportation of grain has disappeared – https://www.un.org/en/black-sea-grain-initiative/vessel-movements
The Russian side will have to respond in some way to this situation. It is unlikely that Moscow will directly attack vessels carrying grain. However, it is possible that the water area will be mined in order to hamper or prevent further passage of ships through this corridor.
