Turkey to BLOCK two ex-British Royal Navy minehunter ships from getting to Ukraine to help in battle against Putin
TURKEY is set to block two ex-British Royal Navy minehunter ships from helping Ukraine in the war against Russia, the country said on Tuesday.
The vessels were set to transit Turkey's Black Sea waters but the move was said to violate an international pact concerning wartime passage of the straits.
The blockage comes less than a month after the MoD announced it would be partnering with Norway to send aid in a maritime coalition.
The ships are the former Royal Navy Sandown class minehunter vessels, previously named HMS Grimsby and HMS Shoreham, a spokesperson for the MoD told The Sun Online.
"Back when the transfer was confirmed at a joint press conference last month, the Chief of the Ukrainian navy commented on this issue specifically," they said.
On December 11, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said Britain would transfer the two minehunter ships to the Ukrainian navy to help strengthen its sea operations in its war against Russia.
The new coalition was meant to deliver "long-term support to Ukraine", a statement from the MoD read.
This included training, equipment, and infrastructure to bolster security in the Black Sea.
But the Turkish presidency said it will not allow the vessels to use its Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits as long as the war in Ukraine continues.
Ankara maintains good ties with both Kyiv and Moscow amid the war.
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It added Turkey has implemented the 1936 Montreux Convention "impartially and diligently" in order to prevent a military escalation in the Black Sea.
The pact - triggered when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 - effectively blocks the passage of military ships for the warring parties.
It does exempt ships returning to home bases, however.
Turkey's full statement read: "Turkey maintains its unwavering determination and principled stance throughout this war in order to prevent the escalation of tension in the Black Sea.
"We have informed our relevant allies that the mine hunting ships donated to Ukraine by the United Kingdom will not be allowed to pass through the Turkish Straits to the Black Sea as long as the war continues.";
"The claim in some media outlets that 'Mine hunting ships donated to Ukraine by the United Kingdom were allowed to pass through the Turkish Straits to the Black Sea' is not true."
It comes after Russia admitted blitzing a village deep within its own territory.
The devastating blunder left buildings destroyed around a smouldering crater.
Footage shows devastation in Petropavlovka, Voronezh region - 95 miles from the border with Ukraine - with at least six houses blasted and half a street left in ruins.
A huge crater was seen in the ground along with scenes of burnt down cars and devastated houses.
Locals from the village, which has a population of 4,819, were evacuated and transported to temporary accommodation centres.
Officials denied any casualties but the plaintiff voice of a villager is heard on a video desperately pleading: “Where is Vovka [Vladimir]? Alive or not? Damn, damn. Alive or not? ****ing hell.”
Ukrainian sources believe a powerful subsonic Kh-101/555 missile hit the village after a misfiring from an unspecified Russian warplane.
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A Russian defence ministry spokesman admitted a missile intended to cause carnage in Ukraine had hit the Russian village in error.