Contents tagged with Kerch Strait

  • Ukraine suspends martial law 

    December 26th, at 14:00, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced that martial law, which was enacted due to Russian attack in the Kerch Strait, had been discontinued in regions of the country.  

    “Now at 14:00 martial law has stopped. This is ultimately my decision. It is based on all the components of the current security situation in the government,” said Poroshenko during a meeting of the Council of National Security and Defense of Ukraine. 

    On November 25th Russian border guards  …

  • Ukraine imposes additional sanctions against Russia 

    The National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine approved the introduction of additional sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities. The decision is made in connection with the incident in the Kerch Strait, as well as with the holding of elections in the self-proclaimed LPR and DPR. 

    The press service of the National Security Council of Ukraine specified that the sanctions are imposed on those Russian companies, businessmen, politicians and deputies, law enforcement …

  • Russia warns Ukraine and NATO against sending ships through the Kerch Strait

    Moscow called on Ukraine and its Western partners to abandon the new attempt to send naval ships through the Kerch Strait.

    At a press briefing, the spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, called the possible passage of Ukrainian ships through the Kerch Strait "a reckless initiative", RIA Novosti reports.

    Zakharova also noted that the "Western supervisors" of Kyiv should come up with a way of "reasoning with the ruling regime" in Ukraine in order to make them abandon the …

  • OSCE Secretary General believes new aggravation between Russia and Ukraine is highly possible

    Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung reports that the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Thomas Greminger stated that Russia might continue providing military assistance to the territories of Donbas which are not under Ukraine’s control. 

    He believes that the aggravation is a real possibility in the annexed Crimea or on the line of demarcation with the so-called Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics. 

    According to Greminger, the political will to reconcile the …

  • Three sailors from captured Ukrainian tugboat refuse to testify 

    Three Ukrainian sailors from the tugboat Yany Kapu who were captured by Russia on November 25 off the Kerch Strait have declared themselves prisoners of war and refused to testify, said Russian attorney Nikolai Polozov in a Facebook post. 

    According to him, the defense team of the imprisoned sailors has met with Yuriy Budzylo and Andriy Shevchenko, members of the Yany Kapu’s crew. The attorneys report that Shevchenko was in a good frame of mind, and did not have any health complaints. …

  • Ukrainian politician suggests sending British warship through the Kerch Strait to see Russia’s reaction

    Speaking on the Ukrainian Pryamyi TV Channel, Yuriy Hrymchak, Ukrainian Deputy Minister of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, suggested that Britain should send the British ship HMS Echo, which recently visited in Odessa, to the Kerch Strait together with the Ukrainian vessels. 

    While speaking about the attack of Russians on the Ukrainian ships, Hrymchak said that the British ship should try to go through the Kerch Strait. 

    “When people say that Russia will allow the British ship to pass, …

  • UN General Assembly condemns violation of human rights in Crimea 

    On December 22, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the violation of human rights in the Crimea annexed by Russia. In particular, the General Assembly condemned the "illegal establishment of laws, jurisdiction and administration" in the region. The document submitted by Ukraine was backed by 67 countries, the permanent representative of Ukraine to the UN, Volodymyr Yelchenko wrote on his Twitter page. 27 states, including Russia, Belarus, China, India, Serbia, Syria, the Republic of …

  • Volker: Russia needs a pretext for aggression in Ukraine 

    Russia needs a pretext for aggression in Ukraine, US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker told TSN.Tyzhden in an interview. 

    According to Volker, the US used to think it was unlikely that Russia was set on aggression in Ukraine, but in the wake of the Kerch Strait incident, it will be necessary to reconsider the realistic probability that there may be new aggression from Russia. 

    “We must do everything we can to stop it from coming to this. We must do everything to prevent this …

  • US State Department allocates $10 million to Ukraine after Russia's attack in the Kerch Strait

    “In response to Russia’s dangerous escalation and unjustified November 25 attack on three Ukrainian naval vessels near the Kerch Strait, the Department of State, subject to Congressional approval, will provide an additional $10 million in Foreign Military Financing to further build Ukraine’s naval capabilities,” the State Department said in a press release. In addition, Robert Palladino, Deputy Head of the State Department's press service, repeated the statement on his official Twitter page. At …

  • 15 Ukrainian sailors imprisoned in Russia declare themselves prisoners of war 

    According to lawyer Sergey Badamshin, 15 of the 24 captured Ukrainian sailors being held in a Moscow jail have identified themselves as prisoners of war and demanded that they be treated as such in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention. 

    Badamshin added that the Crimean court hearing their case has been deliberating for two days now on the Ukrainian military’s appeal against illegal arrests. “The ‘Court’ rejects all complaints. But we must understand that the ‘court’ shows no …