Russia claims Crimea attack drones traversed grain corridor ‘safe zone’

MOSCOW — Russia says it recovered debris from drones that attacked its fleet in Sevastopol, saying they used the “safe zone” of a grain corridor and could have been launched from a “civilian ship.”

“The marine drones were moving in the safe zone of the ‘grain corridor,'” Russia’s defense ministry says, adding it has “lifted” some of the drones’ debris from the sea.

It says one of the drones may have been launched “from aboard one of the civilian ships chartered by Kyiv or its Western masters for the export of agricultural products from the seaports of Ukraine.”

Moscow yesterday pulled out of a UN-brokered grain deal after its Black Sea Fleet in Russian-annexed Crimea was targeted by a drone attack.

Russia also says some of the drones used in what it called a “terrorist attack” had Canadian-made parts.

The army says its specialists had “conducted an examination of Canadian-made navigation modules.”

Russia has said Kyiv planned the Sevastopol attack with the help of British military specialists.

It says one of the drones’ data from a “navigation receiver” showed that it was launched “from the coast near the city of Odesa.”

Kyiv and the West condemned Moscow’s decision to exit the grain deal, brokered to ease a global food crisis.