Russia announced that, starting from July 20, it will take tough measures against all ships sailing to Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea, considering them ships carrying military supplies and considering their countries as parties involved in the war in Ukraine. This is a provocative move by Russia after withdrawing from the Black Sea grain deal, which has sent more than 30 million tons of grain to Asia and Africa since August last year, easing global food shortages and inflationary pressures.
Russia's aim is to prevent Ukraine from exporting grain, causing worldwide prices** and forcing European and American countries that support Ukraine to abandon or reduce aid to Ukraine. This is similar to Russia's strategy of using gas resources to put pressure on Europe, but this strategy has not worked because Europe has reduced its dependence on Russian gas.
At the same time, Russia launched a fierce attack on the Ukrainian port of Odessa, using various cruise missiles and suicide drones, causing a lot of damage and **. Although the Ukrainian army successfully intercepted some missiles and drones, it could not stop the attack of two high-speed missiles, the Kh-22 and Onyx, because only two advanced air defense systems, the Patriot and the Stam-P, deployed near Kyiv, could intercept them.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claims that this is a response to Ukraine's readiness to use unmanned boats to carry out a terrorist attack on Russia, as well as a response to Ukraine's terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov also explained this.