The Russian defence ministry has claimed its forces fired “warning shots” at a Royal Navy destroyer after it entered the country’s territorial waters in the Black Sea.
A Russian border patrol boat reportedly fired the shots at HMS Defender, the defence ministry said in a statement reported by the Russian Interfax news agency.
The reports also claimed a Su-24M warplane dropped four bombs in the path of the warship.
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The Ministry of Defence has denied the claims in a statement posted on Twitter saying the ship was "conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters".
The official MoD account tweeted: “No warning shots have been fired at HMS Defender.
“The Royal Navy ship is conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law.
“We believe the Russians were undertaking a gunnery exercise in the Black Sea and provided the maritime community with prior warning of their activity.
“No shots were directed at HMS Defender and we do not recognise the claim that bombs were dropped in her path.”
The MoD's comments come after the Russian defence ministry released a statement claiming that the Royal Navy destroyer had been "warned in advance that weapons would be fired in case of a violation of the Russian state border", adding that it "disregarded the warning".
“As a result of joint actions of the Black Sea Fleet and the Border Service of the Russian Federal Security Service, HMS Defender left the territorial sea of the Russian Federation,” the statement concluded.
HMS Defender – a Type 45 destroyer – is part of the UK Carrier Strike Group currently heading to the Indo-Pacific region.
However, it was announced earlier this month that it would be temporarily breaking away from the group to carry out its “own set of missions” in the Black Sea.
The incident reportedly took place off the coast of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, where tensions have been running high.
In April the United States scrapped plans to deploy two of its destroyers to the Black Sea amid concerns over a build-up of Russian forces on the Ukrainian border.
