Russia’s defence ministry says the Russian warship Ivan Hurs had been attacked unsuccessfully by three Ukrainian uncrewed speedboats in the Black Sea, on the approaches to the Bosphorus strait.
In a statement posted on Telegram, the ministry said the warship had been protecting the TurkStream and Blue Stream gas pipelines – which carry gas from Russia to Turkey, partly across the Black Sea – and “continues to fulfil its tasks”.
The statement appeared likely to raise tensions in the Black Sea where Russia only agreed last week – one day before a self-imposed deadline – to extend a deal allowing Ukraine to export grain safely from its seaports.
The ministry cited the attack as a justification for Russia expanding measures to defend its pipelines although no mention was made of any implications for the safety of grain ships.
Unexplained explosions last September damaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines bringing gas from Russia under the Baltic Sea to Germany.
Despite allowing the Grain Initiative to continue for another two months, Russia continues to complain that Ukraine’s allies are not fulfilling their side of the bargain by removing obstacles to the export of Russian grain and fertilisers.
Ukraine accused Russia on Tuesday of effectively cutting the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi out of the deal as Russia complained that it had been unable to export ammonia via a pipeline to Pivdennyi.
TurkStream carries gas westward from Russia’s Taman peninsula across the width of the Black Sea to a point west of the Bosphorus on the coast of European Turkey.
Blue Stream, however, crosses the eastern Black Sea from north to south, making landfall in the Turkish port of Samsun, about 700km east of the Bosphorus by sea.
The Ivan Hurs is a medium reconnaissance ship launched in 2013.
The defence ministry said all the naval drones “were destroyed by fire from the standard armament of a Russian ship 140km northeast of the Bosphorus”.
Meanwhile, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said that Ukraine will not be able to join the military alliance as long as the war against Russia rages on.
“To become a member in the midst of a war is not on the agenda,” he said at an event organised by the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Brussels.
“The issue is what happens when the war ends.”
In September, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced a bid for fast-track membership of NATO after Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed four partially occupied regions of Ukraine as annexed Russian land.
NATO allies have not acceded to Zelenskiy’s request, with members of the alliance wary of moves that they fear could take NATO closer to entering an active war with Russia.
However, both Ukraine and some of its closest allies in eastern Europe have been pushing for NATO to at least take concrete steps to bring Ukraine closer to membership at the military alliance’s summit in Vilnius in July.
“It is time for the alliance to stop making excuses and start the process that leads to Ukraine’s eventual accession,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote in an op-ed for Foreign Affairs in April.
“What we need is a clear written statement from the allies laying out a path to accession.”
In a visit to Kyiv in April, Stoltenberg underscored that Ukraine’s future lies in NATO, a strong reaffirmation of a 15 year-old decision but he did not give a timeline.
NATO agreed at its 2008 summit in Bucharest that Ukraine will eventually become a member of the alliance.
However, leaders have since stopped short of taking any steps such as giving Ukraine a membership action plan that would lay out a timetable for bringing the country closer to NATO.
In Brussels, Stoltenberg acknowledged there were differences among NATO members over how to address Ukraine’s membership ambitions.
“There are different views in the alliance and, of course, the only way to make decisions in NATO is by consensus. There are consultations going on now,” Stoltenberg said.