UPDATE - Russia summons UK ambassador over attacks on Black Sea Fleet

UPDATES WITH RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) – Russia on Thursday summoned the UK ambassador to Moscow over last week's attacks on its Black Sea Fleet.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, British Ambassador Deborah Bronnert was lodged a strong protest over "active participation of British military specialists in the training and supply of units of the special operations forces of Ukraine."

The ministry stressed that it presented "definite facts" of London's involvement in the attacks.

The ambassador was warned that "confrontational actions" carry the threat of escalation of the situation and "can lead to unpredictable and dangerous consequences," the statement said.

"It was pointed out that such hostile provocations were unacceptable and a demand was put forward to stop them immediately.

"In the event of the continuation of such acts of aggression, fraught with direct involvement in the conflict, all responsibility for their harmful consequences and the growth of tension in relations between our states will lie entirely on the British side," it further read.

The ministry recalled that late 2020 Britain and Ukraine started a joint training program for Ukrainian navy divers by British instructors that is still ongoing.

In August-September this year, it said, the Ukrainian military, under the guidance of the British instructors, had trained technics used in attacks on the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

"On the coast and in the waters of the Black Sea near the cities of Odesa, Mykolaiv and Ochakiv, with the participation of British specialists, the units of the (Ukrainian) navy conducted diving descents, including a training explosion of an object.

"In August-September of this year, on the Pervomaisky Island in the water area of the Dnieper estuary, three kilometers (1.8 miles) south of Ochakiv, British military instructors (about 15 people) trained Ukrainian army servicemen to control unmanned underwater vehicles designed to destroy ships.

"There is information that the British Navy also transferred a certain amount of BPA (a chemical) to the Ukrainian side," the ministry said.

On Wednesday, Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said the Ukrainian military carried out attacks at the Black Sea port of Sevastopol on the Russian military under the guidance of British military specialists.

She said the British ambassador would be summoned and presented the evidence that Russia has about the UK's alleged involvement in the attacks.

In a separate statement the same day, the Russian Defense Ministry said Moscow resumes the implementation of the grain deal suspended on Saturday, after receiving guarantees from Ukraine about the non-use of the humanitarian corridor for the attacks.

Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed an agreement in Istanbul on July 22 to resume Black Sea grain exports, which were paused after the Russia-Ukraine war began in February. A Joint Coordination Center with officials from the three countries and the UN was set up in Istanbul to oversee the shipments.