US Admiral Proposes Attack on Russian Navy Ships in the Black Sea

“NATO and the US can escort grain shipments and they have the capacity to do so, together with the three major NATO countries in the Black Sea (Bulgaria, Romania and Türkiye),” he said.

Having participated in Operation Hard Intent, escorting oil tankers in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war, Stavridis said a similar operation could be carried out now to escort grain shipments.

According to him, the alliance should issue a warning to Russia's Black Sea Fleet and "open fire back" in case of an attack on ships believed to be transporting grain.

Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin explained that when the Russian Defense Ministry announced that all ships sailing on the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports will be considered potential military cargo ships, it was talking about checking them.

"We need to be sure that the ship is experiencing something bad, which means investigating, checking if necessary to determine whether it is okay or not," said diplomat Sergey Vershinin.

Meanwhile, former US intelligence officer Scott Ritter said Ukraine would lose territory by annexing parts of its lands with Poland, Romania and Hungary. “There is no escaping the fact that Poland will come and occupy western Ukraine. This will allow Romania to annex some territories and Hungary will do the same,” he said.

Ritter also noted that the division of Ukraine would lead to conflicts within the European Union (EU) and NATO. “Poland is a member of NATO and the EU. If Poland starts to take territories from Ukraine, this will cause conflicts between Poland and the rest of Europe. Europe will start to disintegrate,” he commented on the consequences./.

Lan Ha