Ottoman sultan Mustafa III receives reports that…

Ottoman sultan Mustafa III receives reports that the town of Balta had been massacred by Russian paid Cossacks.

Russia denies the accusations.

However, the Cossacks had certainly razed Balta and killed whomever they found.

With both the confederates of Poland and the French embassy pushing the sultan, along with many pro-war advisors, Mustafa on October 6 imprisons Aleksei Mikhailovich Obreskov, and the entire Russian embassy's staff, marking the Ottoman’s declaration of war on Russia.

The Turks, ill-prepared for war, form an alliance with the Polish opposition forces of the Bar Confederation, while Russia is supported by Great Britain, which offers naval advisers to the Imperial Russian Navy.