Russia parades captured Ukrainian seamen on TV, warns of flareup

The Kremlin warned on Tuesday that a simmering war in eastern Ukraine could boil over after Russia seized three Ukrainian ships and Kiev responded by declaring martial law in parts of the country. Russia paraded the captured seamen on TV, a move that Ukraine called criminal.

Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for Sunday’s confrontation in the Kerch Strait, which links the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The clash has raised the spectre of renewing a fullblown conflict in eastern Ukraine and saw Russia strongly criticized at the United Nations by the United States and its allies.

The Ukrainian parliament on Monday adopted a motion by the president to impose martial law for 30 days. That is something Ukraine avoided doing even when Russia annexed its nearby Crimean peninsula in 2014 or sent in clandestine troops and weapons to insurgents in war-torn eastern Ukraine.

On Sunday near Crimea, Russian border guards rammed into and opened fire on three Ukrainian navy vessels traveling from the Black Sea toward a Ukrainian port. The Russians seized the ships and their crews. Ukraine considers the 24 captured men to be prisoners of war and says some have been seriously injured, while Russia says they are individuals who have violated its border. The Kremlin reacted strongly to Ukraine’s declaration of martial law, with Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, saying it might trigger a flare-up in hostilities in eastern Ukraine.