Battleship ships of Russia and Ukraine from Kerch: what is known at the moment

On Sunday evening, Russian border guards with shooting detained three Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait area. As stated in the FSB, they illegally crossed the Russian border and did not respond to the requirement to stop. The Ukrainian authorities accused Russia of aggression and raised the issue of imposing martial law in the country.

How events developed and what is known about the incident at the moment, writes Air force.

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On the morning of November 25, the Ukrainian small armored boats Berdyansk and Nikopol, as well as the tug Yana Kapu, began a planned transition from Odessa to Mariupol. At the Kerch Strait, they were met by Russian border ships, one of which rammed a Ukrainian tug.

The Russian FSB claims that Ukrainian ships crossed the Russian state border and “illegally entered a temporarily closed water area.”

The Ukrainian Navy said they had warned the Russian side in advance about the transition.

Help

The FSB claims that the Ukrainians sent two Gyurza-class armored artillery vessels from the Azov port of Berdyansk. Later, the Russian intelligence service reported that they were on a reverse course.

Russia, in turn, scrambled Su-25 attack aircraft and Ka-52 attack helicopters. A video of attack aircraft patrolling the airspace over the Kerch Strait was published by the Kerch.Info portal.

Closed strait

After lunch, the strait was blocked - a ship stopped under the Crimean Bridge and blocked the fairway. Russia initially explained the closure as “the grounding of a tanker in front of the bridge from the Sea of ​​Azov,” and by evening the FSB reported that the strait was closed to civilian vessels for security reasons.

On Monday morning, the general director of the Crimean Sea Ports enterprise, Alexey Volkov, announced the resumption of civil shipping in the Kerch Strait.

The battle

In the evening, Ukraine first, and then Russia, reported that the Ukrainian ships were fired upon and captured.

As the FSB stated, at about 19:00 Ukrainian boats “carried out another attempt at illegal actions within the territorial sea of ​​the Russian Federation.” However, they did not respond to demands for an immediate stop and “committed dangerous maneuvering.”

“For the purpose of forcibly stopping Ukrainian warships, weapons were used,” the FSB Central Operations Center said, adding that three Ukrainian servicemen were injured as a result.

The Ukrainian side claims that Russia used weapons against the Ukrainian ships that were already returning to Odessa, without having received information about the possibility of passage through the Kerch Strait.

As stated by the head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Viktor Muzhenko, not having received the 17: 00 information, the ships of the Ukrainian Navy decided to return to the station of permanent basing.

“When the ships were passing from the waiting area to the permanent base, somewhere at a distance of 13-14 miles from the coast of Crimea, in the area 40 kilometers southeast of Kerch, the ships, which were accompanied by ships and ships of the Russian Federation, were fired upon, blocked and attacked lethal force was used,” he said.

The fate of the crew and ships

According to Muzhenko, there were 23 people on the Ukrainian ships captured by Russia, the connection with which is now lost.

“The fate of the sailors is unknown to us, there is only information about six wounded, two of them seriously,” he said during a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

The FSB of Russia reported that three wounded Ukrainians received medical assistance.

On Monday, the Kerch hospital told TASS that the Ukrainian military was in stable condition. “Everything is fine, it’s not getting worse. They feel great,” the agency’s interlocutor said, adding that investigators are now on duty at the hospital.

According to sources from Reuters and Interfax, the detained Ukrainian ships were delivered to the port of Kerch.

On Monday, the President of Ukraine made a statement to the Russian authorities. He demanded the immediate release of the Ukrainian sailors and the return of detained ships to Ukraine.

Poroshenko at the same time stressed that he expects a quick reaction to his appeal.

Zvertayusya before Kerіvnitstva Rosіyskoi зв Federation в with the vigilantly innocent voice of the Ukrainian News Service, which in international law has been brutally overshadowed by the proportion of non-governmental organizations. Ukraine vimakha termіnovo their transfer to ukrainian parties at once from the ships. pic.twitter.com/0kJ8JmUpyl

- Petro Poroshenko (@poroshenko) November 26, 2018

Charges

Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of provocations.

“Their goal is clear - to create a conflict situation in this region,” the FSB said.

“Provocative actions on the part of the Russian Federation in the Black and Azov Seas crossed the border and became aggressive,” responded the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov on Monday called the incident in the Kerch Strait a “very dangerous provocation” that requires serious investigation.

Martial law

At night, the President of Ukraine convened a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC). He regarded the incident as an “act of military aggression” and came to the conclusion that it was necessary to introduce martial law in the country.

This decision should be approved by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which will hold an emergency meeting on Monday evening.

By order of the head of the General Staff of Ukraine, the armed forces of the country have already been put on full alert. The police switched to enhanced duty.

International reaction

NATO and the European Union called on the parties to show restraint and defuse the situation as soon as possible.

The authorities of Estonia and Georgia issued statements condemning Russia's actions. “The attack on Ukrainian ships and their detention is a gross violation of international maritime law and threatens the security of the entire region,” Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani wrote on his social media page.

“I condemn Russia’s activities in seizing Ukrainian naval vessels, closing the Kerch Strait and aggression against Ukraine,” said Estonian Prime Minister Jüri Ratas.

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