 Russia's Defense Ministry said on July 21 that its Black Sea Fleet had practiced firing rockets at surface targets in a live fire exercise, two days after it warned that ships heading to Ukraine's Black Sea ports could be considered military targets. Russia issued its warning earlier this week after it quit the Black Sea grain deal on Monday, revoking security guarantees for ships carrying Ukrainian grain. He have subsequently said it wanted to set up a temporary shipping route to try and continue its grain exports, prompting Russia to warn that any ships traveling to Ukraine's Black Sea ports would be seen as possibly carrying military cargo. The Ministry said its fleet had also rehearsed closing off areas temporarily ruled off limits to shipping and had practiced apprehending and offending vessel.