To clear the water area, it will take the efforts of several states, experts say
Statements that Russia is preventing the export of grain from Ukraine are a bluff, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on June 3. He guaranteed peaceful passage to civilian vessels and promised not to undertake any attacks from the sea during the clearance of ports by the Ukrainian side. Without the elimination of underwater barriers randomly set by the Kiev regime, the resumption of civil navigation is impossible, experts emphasize. Meanwhile, the first soldiers who were seriously injured during the special operation, after rehabilitation and retraining, left for new duty stations.
Mine-free corridors
In an interview with the Rossiya 1 TV channel, Vladimir Putin on Friday spoke about the possibility of exporting grain from Ukrainian ports.
— Let them clear mines, and, please, let the ships loaded with grain leave the ports. We guarantee their peaceful passage into international waters without any problems," the Russian president said. — They should also raise ships from the bottom of the Black Sea that were specially flooded in order to make it difficult to enter these ports in the south of Ukraine. We are ready to do this, we will not take advantage of the situation of mine clearance in order to launch any attacks from the sea.
On the same day, the head of the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizince, recalled that 70 foreign vessels from 16 states remain blocked in the ports of Kherson, Nikolaev, Chernomorsk, Ochakov, Odessa and Yuzhny. The Russian Armed Forces announced the opening of a maritime humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea from the territorial waters of Ukraine, operating daily from 8 to 19 hours. But the threat of shelling created by official Kiev and the high mine danger do not allow ships to freely enter the open sea.
— Even in the first days of the special operation, the Ukrainian navy installed hundreds of outdated underwater anchor mines off its coast, — military expert Dmitry Boltenkov told Izvestia. — Minefields were laid in haste and disorder, poorly. Many dangerous "surprises" were torn from their places by storms and scattered all over the Black Sea. They were repeatedly found not only on the beaches of Odessa, but even in the sea straits of Istanbul. In early March, the Estonian cargo ship Helt exploded and sank on one of the mines near Odessa, which led to a complete stop of civil shipping from the Black Sea ports of Ukraine.
The scale of the problem will require combing vast expanses of the Black Sea, and the experience of real mine operations is now forgotten, the expert added. The decontamination operation can take a considerable time simply because of the lack of specialized minesweepers in any one country in the region. Multinational efforts may be required to eliminate the minefields laid by Ukraine. There is already a similar experience, it is enough to recall the actions of the fleets of the USSR, the USA and other countries in the Persian Gulf during the "Tanker War" and after it, Dmitry Boltenkov concluded.
Resistance strikes
The armed forces of the Russian Federation continue to strike at the objects of the military and transport infrastructure of Ukraine. During the day, 21 areas of concentration of manpower and military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were hit by high-precision air-based missiles of the Russian Aerospace Forces. And operational-tactical, army and unmanned aircraft — 37 areas of deployment of troops, said on June 3, the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov.
As a result of the strikes, more than 360 nationalists, 49 pieces of weapons and military equipment were destroyed, including a radar station for detecting and controlling airspace in Slavyansk (DPR), the general said.
Also destroyed were 13 Ukrainian tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, the Osa-AKM anti-aircraft missile system, two mortar batteries, two Grad multiple rocket launchers, eight artillery pieces, 26 special vehicles, and four warehouses of rocket and artillery weapons.
Air defense intercepted and destroyed three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles and three multiple rocket launchers "Hurricane" over the Kharkiv region and the territory of the DPR.
Rocket troops and artillery hit 26 control points, 122 artillery and mortar batteries in firing positions, 537 areas of concentration of AFU troops, and five ammunition depots. The control point of unmanned aerial vehicles was destroyed in the Mykolaiv region.
"Since the beginning of the special military operation, 186 aircraft, 129 helicopters, 1087 unmanned aerial vehicles, 328 anti—aircraft missile systems, 3386 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 462 multiple rocket launchers, 1760 field artillery and mortars, as well as 3376 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed," Igor Konashenkov listed.
New service
Russia continues to improve social protection measures for participants of the special operation in Ukraine.
In the rehabilitation and educational center, created on the basis of the branch of the Central Military Clinical Hospital named after A.A.Vishnevsky, certificates of completion of the course of additional professional education were awarded to military personnel participating in a special military operation. The received specialties will allow servicemen who have been injured, limiting the passage of service, to continue it in new military positions in organizations of the Ministry of Defense of Russia.
Certificates, regular military ranks and state awards were presented by the State Secretary, Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Nikolay Pankov.
— Today we have an important event — the first servicemen are completing rehabilitation and starting tomorrow they begin to go to places of military service. Here, in the rehabilitation and educational center, you have successfully passed the recovery period, received the necessary knowledge and skills and are ready to perform your official duties," Nikolai Pankov said.
According to him, everything is ready in the new places for their comfortable living and service.
The hospital named after A.A.Vishnevsky was also visited by the head of the Main Personnel Department of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, Colonel General Viktor Goremykin and the acting head of the Department of Housing and Housing Management of the Ministry of Defense of Russia Artem Svyatnenko. The servicemen were presented with documents for obtaining housing prepared specifically for officers and contractors who decided to continue military service after treatment, rehabilitation and professional retraining.
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| A serviceman of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. |
| Source: RIA Novosti/Alexey Kudenko |
Solid defense
The Russian Defense Ministry on Friday told about soldiers and officers who showed courage and dedication in battle.
The motorized rifle battalion of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Mikhailov carried out tasks to deter Ukrainian nationalists near a strategically important settlement. The enemy repeatedly tried to break through the defense, using electronic warfare, artillery and mortars. Alexander's battalion held back the militants' offensive for more than two weeks, while the positions of the motorized infantry were fired more than 100 times from mortars and artillery.
Thanks to the skillful leadership and professionalism of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Mikhailov, as well as the coordinated actions of his subordinates, it was possible to repel more than 40 attacks by nationalists.
Corporal Dmitry Korobeynikov repeatedly provided uninterrupted communication between the command and the battalion tactical group of the airborne assault brigade under continuous artillery fire. Dmitry destroyed three enemy lightly armored vehicles, more than 15 nationalists with fire from an anti-tank grenade launcher, and also took the command and staff vehicle to a safe place, preventing the destruction of communication equipment.
From the first days of the special military operation, Junior Sergeant Bogdan Kuznetsov was engaged in the maintenance of military and special equipment. Bogdan's group came under artillery fire and a hangar with military equipment caught fire from enemy shells. The junior sergeant, risking his own life, brought out of the fire three vehicles with ammunition, two tankers and two wounded servicemen.
The courageous and decisive actions of Junior Sergeant Kuznetsov made it possible to save the lives of wounded Russian servicemen, as well as to avoid the destruction of a large number of military equipment, the Defense Ministry stressed.
Anton Lavrov
Andrey Fedorov
