The Southern Operational Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has warned this Thursday that Russia is increasing its presence in the Black Sea in recent daysalso coinciding with the recent crash of an American drone in these waters after a collision with a Russian SU-27 fighter.
In fact, the Ukrainian military authorities have acknowledged that this “atypical” number of vessels may be related precisely to the United States’ intentions to send a ship to the Black Sea to try to locate the remains of the drone.
In this context, kyiv has warned that it cannot be ruled out that the Russian Armed Forces have sent so many ships to the area, precisely, to start a parallel lookup operationaccording to a statement released on the Facebook social network by the South Operational Command.
Likewise, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have reported the presence of five Russian missile ships, two of them underwater, which raises the danger of new rocket attacks. “Do not ignore the air warning signs,” he has recommended.
Tensions between Moscow and Washington have flared up again after Monday The United States confirmed that one of its drones had fallen into the waters of the Black Sea after colliding with a Russian SU-27 fighter. while operating in international airspace. Russia, for its part, defended not having come into contact with the drone and pointed out that it plunged after a series of strange maneuvers.
On Wednesday, the defense ministers of Russia and the United States, Sergei Shoigu and Lloyd Austinheld telephone conversations after Russian planes intercepted the drone.
After the conversation, Austin gave a press conference together with the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, Mark Milley, in which he assured that the North American power will continue to fly “where international law allows.”
“I just got off the phone with my Russian counterpart, Minister Shoigu,” Austin told a Pentagon news conference. “As I have said repeatedly, it is important that the great powers be models of transparency and communicationand The United States will continue to fly and operate where international law allows.”.
The fact that Austin and Shoigu were speaking underlined the seriousness of the encounter over the Black Sea. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, contact between US and Russian military leaders has been limited, with Russian officers refusing to take US military calls in the early months of the war.
Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was also scheduled to speak with his Russian counterpart, General Valery Gerasimov, chief of staff of the Russian armed forces.
Gerasimov was appointed the new commander of Russian forces in Ukraine in January and his previous commander was demoted, in an apparent sign of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s dissatisfaction with the state of the stalemate war.
(With information from EP, AFP and AP)
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Source-www.infobae.com