Ukrainian Navy spokesperson: Russia unable to mine Black Sea, though danger of stray mines remain

Russia does not currently have the same capabilities to mine the Black Sea as it had before.

This was stated by Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Navy, Ukrinform reports.

“Currently, this option is practically unavailable to them. If earlier they used to use aviation to carry out remote mining, now there is no such practice. There have been no such cases since the last downing of a Su-24 that could do this,” Pletenchuk said.

At the same time, he emphasized that the mine danger remains. In particular, the threat is posed by stray mines that can move in the sea after a storm.

For example, on 13 August, the Romanian Navy carried out a controlled explosion of a sea mine that was drifting near Grindul Kituk in southeastern Romania. This territory is part of the Danube Delta, which Romania shares with Ukraine.

Mines in the Black Sea

The Black Sea is crucial for the transportation of grain, oil and other products and is used by Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Türkiye, as well as Ukraine and Russia.

The Romanian Navy added that since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, more than 100 drifting mines have been discovered and destroyed.

In order to counter the threat mines pose in the Black Sea, Türkiye, Romania and Bulgaria launched joint mine action operations in the Black Sea on 1 July to improve the safety of navigation, in particular for Ukrainian grain exports.

Related:

• Ukrainian Navy destroys WWII-era naval mine in Black Sea
• Odesa blast techs detonate river mine discovered on seaside
• Türkiye, Romania, and Bulgaria sign agreement for joint Black Sea mine clearance
• Reuters: Grain ship damaged by sea mine off Ukraine coast
• Reuters: Turkish cargo ship hit a mine en route to Ukrainian Black Sea port