At present, the Sea of ​​Azov has already become an area of ​​possible armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the Washington Post said.

According to the publication "There is a case to be made that the Azov's shoreline is of more strategic and economic value to Russia than Ukraine's war-battered eastern border regions."

The publication said the U.S. intelligence has warned that the Kremlin could be planning "a multipronged military attack against Ukraine" as soon as early next year.

According to the article, for all the international attention paid to "the concentration of Russian troops on Ukraine's land borders, if an invasion originates from the sea, Ukrainian forces are largely powerless."

This, the newspaper writes, acknowledged Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba.

"In terms of security, the Sea of Azov is dominated by Russia. And in case of war, it will be heavily used by them to put pressure on our southern cities on the Azov shore," he told the newspaper.

The minister said: "Under the current circumstances, of course Russia dictates the situation in the Azov and basically uses it as a war theater."