Britain's Ministry of Defence said no Russian warning shots were fired at the Royal Navy's HMS Defender, which sailed into the Black Sea earlier this month, and it didn't recognise assertions that bombs were put in its path.
"We believe the Russians were undertaking a gunnery exercise within the Black Sea and provided the maritime community with prior-warning of their activity," the defence ministry said during a statement on Twitter.
Ukrainian secretary of state Dmytro Kuleba said the incident showed that Russia's "aggressive and provocative policies" within the Black Sea and nearby Azov Sea constituted a "continuous threat to Ukraine and its allies". during a tweet, he involved NATO to cooperate with Ukraine within the Black Sea .
Russia seized and annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and considers areas round the peninsula's coast to be Russian waters. Western countries consider the peninsula a part of Ukraine and reject Russia's claim to the seas around it.
Russia's defence ministry, quoted by Interfax press agency , said British ship had left Russian waters soon after the incident, having ventured the maximum amount as 3 kilometers (2 miles) inside. It said the confrontation occurred near Cape Fiolent, a landmark on the southern coast of Crimea near the port of Sevastopol, headquarters of the Russian Navy's Black Sea fleet.
"The destroyer had been warned that weapons would be used if it trespasses the border of the Russia . It didn't react to the warning," it said.
A Russian bomber dropped four explosive fragmentation bombs as a warning within the British destroyer's path, consistent with the Russian ministry.
