Russia carries out live fire “exercise“ in Black Sea after warning to Ukraine

The Russian navy has carried out what Moscow described as a live fire exercise in the northwest of the Black Sea amid an escalating crisis in the waterway. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet “carried out live firing of anti-ship cruise missiles at the target ship in the combat training range in the northwestern part of the Black Sea”, the defence ministry said in a statement posted on Telegram. “The target ship was destroyed as a result of a missile strike,” it added. The “exercise” came amid a dispute over grain shipments in which both Russia and Ukraine have warned they could strike cargo ships. “Also during the joint exercise, the ships and fleet aviation worked out actions to isolate the area temporarily closed to navigation, and also carried out a set of measures to detain the offending ship,” Moscow’s statement added. Ukraine warned yesterday that it could target any ships sailing to Russian-controlled ports in a tit-for-tat warning following Moscow’s declaration of a naval blockade. Starting today both Kyiv and Moscow will consider all ships travelling toward ports controlled by their enemy as carriers of military equipment. Read your updates here: #russia #ukraine #blacksea Subscribe to The Telegraph with our special offer: just £1 for 3 months. Start your free trial now: Get the latest headlines: and are websites of The Telegraph, the UK’s best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.