Black Sea – Since the expiration of the Black Sea Grain Initiative between Russia and Ukraine on 17
July 2023, there are fears of consequences for civilian traffic in the Black Sea. It is in this context that
on 6 October it has been reported by several media, that a Turkish cargo ship had been hit by a mine
the day before near the Romanian coast.

A Turkish cargo ship heading from Batumi to Izmail
The ship concerned, the Kafkametler, was indeed coming from the Georgian harbour of Batumi and
heading to the Ukrainian port of Izmail on the Danube when, 11 miles north of the entrance to the
Sulina Canal – connecting the Black Sea with the Danube through Romanian territory –, according to
security consultancy Ambrey, “The vessel reportedly experienced an explosion at approximately
09:20 UTC (GMT), […] dropped anchor for a short period to assess the damage [and] resumed sailing
at 12:10.”

As per the reports about the incident, the ship “sustained minor damage” but “was able to resume
sailing after three hours […] the crew [being] safe”. The presence of mines off the Romanian coasts
are considered to be a consequence of “sea mine deployment by the Russian navy conducted to
frustrate Ukraine’s grain exports” as Kiyv is now principally using the Danube port of Izmail for
exporting its grain since Russia keeps attacking its Black Sea harbours.

As a consequence of the denunciation of the grain agreement by Russia and the repeated Russian
attacks on the Ukrainian port infrastructure for grain exports, Lithuania, Croatia and also Greece –
since last week – have proposed to Ukraine to use their own ports for this purpose.

Quick reaction from the UK Foreign Office
Very soon the British Foreign Office reacted with a statement reminding that “Russia almost
certainly wants to avoid openly sinking civilian ships, instead falsely laying blame on Ukraine for any
attacks against civilian vessels in the Black Sea…”

Turkey and Ukraine denied the information
Finally, the General Directorate of Maritime Affairs of the Turkish Ministry of Transport and
Infrastructure published an online statement explaining that “the explosion in question did not occur
on the ship and there was no evidence of a mine explosion”, the Kafkametler showing absolutely no
damage at all. Following the incident – the explosion obviously occurred about 15-20 meters behind
the Kafkametler –, “the ship continued sailing to its destination to deliver its cargo.”
The Ukrainian Navy has also denied the information about the alleged explosion. According to its
spokesman, Dmytro Pletenchuk, the information about the mine explosion was false: „Such information has been circulating, but it is not confirmed and we do not confirm it. Everything was
inspected, there was no damage, there was no explosion, the information is not true.”