Russia said Sunday it recovered debris from drones that attacked its fleet in Sevastopol, exploiting the “safe zone” of a grain corridor, and could have been launched from a civilian ship.
“The marine drones were moving in the safe zone of the ‘grain corridor’,” Russia’s defense ministry said, adding it had “lifted” some of the drones’ debris from the sea.
One of the drones may have been launched “from aboard one of the civilian ships chartered by Kyiv or its Western masters for the export of agricultural products from the seaports of Ukraine.”
Moscow on Sunday pulled out of a UN-brokered grain deal after its Black Sea Fleet in Russian-annexed Crimea was targeted by a drone attack.
Russia also said some of the drones used in what it called a “terrorist attack” had Canadian-made parts.
The army said its specialists had “conducted an examination of Canadian-made navigation modules.”
Russia has accused Kyiv of planning the Sevastopol attack with the help of British military specialists.
It said one of the drones’ data from a “navigation receiver” showed that it was launched “from the coast near the city of Odesa.”
In a separate statement, the army said a Black Sea Fleet sailor who acted as a “radio telegraphist” and a watchman was the first to spot an “unknown” marine drone moving toward the Sevastopol bay before dawn on Saturday.
It said he “immediately reported” to his seniors, which “allowed the ship to destroy the drone.”
It said the sailor, named as Artyom Zhiltsov of the “Ladny” ship, was handed a state award.
Kyiv and the West condemned Moscow’s decision to exit the grain deal, which had agreed to ease a global food crisis.