WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The&nbsp;White&nbsp;House&nbsp;warned on Wednesday that&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;may&nbsp;expand its targeting of Ukrainian grain facilities to include&nbsp;attacks against&nbsp;civilian&nbsp;shipping&nbsp;in the&nbsp;Black&nbsp;Sea.
Adam Hodge,&nbsp;White&nbsp;House&nbsp;National Security Council spokesperson, said U.S. officials have information indicating&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;laid additional&nbsp;sea&nbsp;mines in the approaches to Ukrainian ports.
"We believe that this is a coordinated effort to justify any&nbsp;attacks against&nbsp;civilian&nbsp;ships in the&nbsp;Black&nbsp;Sea&nbsp;and lay blame on Ukraine for these&nbsp;attacks," he said.
Hodge said&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;had announced that all ships proceeding to Ukrainian ports in&nbsp;Black&nbsp;Sea&nbsp;waters would be considered potential carriers of military cargo and said U.S. information indicated&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;had laid additional&nbsp;sea&nbsp;mines in the approaches to Ukrainian ports.
"In addition to this coordinated effort in the&nbsp;Black&nbsp;Sea, we have already observed that&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;targeted Ukraine's grain export ports in Odesa with missiles and drones on July 18 and 19, resulting in the destruction of agricultural infrastructure and 60,000 tons of grain," he said.
Ukraine accused&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;on Wednesday of damaging grain export infrastructure in "hellish" overnight strikes focused on two of its&nbsp;Black&nbsp;Sea&nbsp;ports, vowing not to be intimidated from working to keep grain exports moving out of them.
&nbsp;
(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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White House: Russia may attack civilian shipping in Black Sea