A Russian border patrol ship and Su-24 bomber fired warning shots after British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Defender "violated" Russia's maritime borders in the Black Sea, Russian media reported, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense on Wednesday. 

The HMS Defender "was given a preliminary warning that weapons would be used if the state borders of the Russian Federation were violated. It did not react to the warning," the ministry said, adding that the ship left Russian waters after the shots were fired. 

Russia said the British destroyer ventured as much as 3 kilometers inside its territorial water and left at 12:23 p.m.

According to Interfax news agency, the Russian Defense Ministry summoned the British defense attache in Moscow afterward. 

However, the UK's defense ministry swiftly denied the incident's occurrence. 

"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 recognize the claim that bombs were dropped in her path," the UK's Ministry of Defence Press Office said in a statement on Twitter. 

"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."

Crimea was incorporated into Russia in March 2014 following a local referendum, but Ukraine says the peninsula was annexed, and Western countries insist that the peninsula was illegally annexed.

(With input from agencies)