Ukraine claims Russians fired on two naval vessels

Black Sea standoff escalates off Crimea coast as countries trade accusations of provocation

MOSCOW — The Ukrainian navy said Sunday that Russia’s coast guard opened fire on and seized three of its vessels, while wounding two of its crew members in the Black Sea.

The skirmish follows a tense standoff off the coast of the Crimean Peninsula.

Ukraine’s navy said that two of its vessels were struck and that Russian coast guard crews boarded them, and a tugboat, seizing them. The Russian Federal Security Service, known as the FSB and which is in charge of the coast guard, said it has evidence Ukraine was responsible.

“There is irrefutable evidence that Kyiv prepared and orchestrated provocations ... in the Black Sea,” the FSB said in a statement. “These materials will soon be made public.”

There have been growing tensions between Ukraine and Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and has steadily worked to increase its zone of control around the peninsula.

Earlier Sunday, Russia and Ukraine traded accusations over another incident involving the same three vessels, prompting Moscow to block passage through the Kerch Strait.

The Ukrainian vessels apparently wanted to travel through the strait to other ports in Ukraine, and Ukrainian authorities said they had given advance notice to the Russians.

The tensions began Sunday morning. Russia’s coast guard said three Ukrainian vessels made an unauthorized crossing through Russia’s territorial waters, while Ukraine alleged one of its boats was rammed by a Russian coast guard vessel.

The Kerch Strait is a narrow body of water nestled between Crimea and Russia’s mainland.

The incident began after the Ukrainian navy says a Russian coast guard vessel rammed one of its tugboats, which was travelling with two Ukrainian navy artillery boats from Odesa on the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Sea of Azov, via the Kerch Strait.

“Russian coast guard vessels ... carried out openly aggressive actions against Ukrainian navy ships,” the Ukrainian navy statement said, adding Russia had been informed in advance about the planned journey.

It said a Russian ship damaged the tugboat’s engine, hull, side railing and a lifeboat. Russia then blocked the strait.

The Kerch Strait is the only passage into the Sea of Azov beyond it. The strait is crossed by the recently completed Kerch Bridge, connecting Crimea to Russia. Transit under the bridge has been blocked by a tanker ship, and dozens of cargo ships awaiting passage are stuck.

Russia hasn’t said how long it will keep the strait blocked off, but a long-term closure to civilian traffic would amount to an economic blockade of Ukrainian cities on the Azov coast.

The FSB told Russian news agencies Sunday the Ukrainian ships held their course and violated Russian territorial waters. The FSB accused the Ukrainian navy of staging a provocation against Russia.

“Their goal is clear,” an FSB statement said — “to create a conflict situation in the region.”