Ukrainian Navy: Ukraine doesn't submit request to Turkey to allow two minesweepers into Black Sea
Ukraine did not submit a request to Turkey to allow two minesweepers into the Black Sea, which the UK is transferring to the Ukrainian side, Spokesman for the Naval Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) Dmytro Pletenchuk said.
Answering the question whether Ukraine planned to use these minesweepers until the end of active hostilities, Pletenchuk said: "The Navy did not leave a request for the passage of these ships to the Republic of Turkey, firstly. Secondly, including the operation of the Montreux Convention, there is no other option to expect, in principle, it should not have been done."
"Accordingly, I can only confirm that we had no such intentions," he said during a telethon on Wednesday.
At the same time, the spokesman said Turkey also does not allow Russian warships to enter the Black Sea.
"In this sense, there is absolute parity on Turkey's part. And there are no reasons for 'treason', as we like to say," he said.
Earlier, the Center for Countering Disinformation within the Office of the President of Turkey stated that the statement of some media that "the minesweepers donated to Ukraine by Great Britain were allowed to pass through the Turkish straits into the Black Sea" is not true.