Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukrainian attacks on Russian and foreign-flagged merchant vessels and tankers — including ships linked to the United States and Turkish merchant vessels hit by drones — prompted Russia’s retaliatory actions, according to the Russian state news agency TASS.

Peskov also said Moscow is in no hurry to name new ambassadors to the United Kingdom and France, because normal bilateral relations with both countries are missing, according to TASS.