Contents tagged with Sea of Azov

  • Commander of one the detained Ukrainian ships refuses to admit guilt

    The TASS news agency  reported, citing Mykola Polozov, the lawyer for the commander of one of the Ukrainian ships detained in the Kerch Strait, Denys Hrytsenko, that his defendant refused to testify in the Russian court and does not admit guilt.

    “There were investigations, my client refused to testify and did not admit guilt. Now the investigation in considering my request for permission for my client to see his relatives,” said the lawyer.

    According to Interfax news agency, Hrytsenko wrote …

  • Ukrainians detained in Russia will receive $200 monthly

    Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree that pays $200 every month to Ukrainians detained in Russia. The amount of payment will be counted based on triple subsistence level. The payment scheme is named after the Ukrainian dissident, fighter against Russian language in Ukraine Levko Lukyanenko.

    The right to receive such payments will be given to “Ukrainian citizens who are illegally detained by Russia.” 

  • Kyiv authorizes Ukrainian coast guard to fire without warning

    The Verkhovna Rada has passed a bill concerning Ukraine’s surrounding zone on its second reading. The bill states that the sea division of the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) may open fire without warning in an event of an armed aggression in order to protect Ukrainian ships.

    244 MPs voted in favor of the bill the second time.

    The zone surrounding Ukraine is defined as a sea belt adjacent to Ukraine’s territorial sea, the outer border of which is no more than 24 nautical miles from the …

  • Kyiv: Cargo traffic in the ports of Azov Sea decreased by half due to Russia's actions

    The Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure, Volodymyr Omelyan, stated on his Facebook page that cargo traffic in the ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol has more than halved due to Russia’s actions. According to him, the ports are forced to move to a four-day work week and reduce staff.

    “As we expected, Moscow manually regulates the access to the Ukrainian seaports of the Azov Sea by vessels, based on the ancient principle of the Kremlin: “I want to/I don’t want to”… As a result of such an approach, …

  • Ukraine tests new cruise missile

    The Ukrainian-made Neptun cruise missile has been successfully tested in the Odessa province, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak announced on Wednesday, December 5.

    Ukrainian cruise missiles launched from the new Neptun coastal anti-ship systems were successfully tested for range and accuracy against above-water targets, and important results were obtained during the exercise.

    “The task that was set today for the cruise missiles was to test the range and accuracy of destroying above- …

  • Ukraine calls on Macedonia to impose sanctions against Russia

    Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration called on Macedonia to impose sanctions against Russia, during her meeting with Prime Minister of Macedonia Zoran Zaev as part of her working visit to Croatia, reported the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers’ press service.

    "Russia has not shown any progress in the implementation of the PACE resolutions regarding Russian military aggression against Ukraine. Its recent provocations in the Azov Sea, fake …

  • Ukraine calls on OSCE to start monitoring the Sea of Azov

    During the talks in Minsk, Ukraine called on the OSCE to start monitoring the Sea of Azov, stated Iryna Herashchenko, the representative of Ukraine in the humanitarian subgroup of negotiations in Minsk.

    "The Ukrainian side condemned the open armed aggression of the Russian Federation in the Sea of Azov and called on the OSCE SMM, whose mandate covers the entire territory of Ukraine, to immediately begin enhanced monitoring of the Azov Sea and adjacent territories, which according to the Minsk …

  • Ukrainian State Border Service: all ships are at sea and combat ready

    Chairman of the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service Petro Tsyhykal stated on the television channel UATV,  that all ships and boats of the State Border Service of Ukraine are combat ready.

    “Virtually the entire crew is at sea today,” states the State Border Service website, quoting Tsyhykal.

    Tsyhykal noted that from December 1st, the border guards are part of the staff of the Maritime Security Administration. Also, he stated that a regional maritime office had been created.

    Starting …

  • Kyiv considers restricting access of Russian ships to Ukrainian ports

    Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said that Ukraine considers the possibility of several actions after Russian border guards detained three Ukrainian ships  in the Kerch Strait. According to Klimkin, Ukraine may close a number of Ukrainian ports for Russian vessels.

    "One of the steps that we are talking about is to prevent all Russian ships that are coming from the Azov or Black Sea from entering certain ports, or to block the entrance to some vessels. And to restrict all possible …

  • Ukraine informs International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea about Russia's actions in the Sea of Azov

    The press service of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that Ukraine has notified the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, which considers the lawsuit against Russia regarding its actions in the Sea of Azov, about the detention of Ukrainian navy ships and their crew.

    The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that recent events, "including the attack and seizure of Ukrainian ships, show that this is a deliberate and purposeful escalation of conflict by the …