Ukraine fears land invasion
Widespread condemnation of Russian ‘aggression’
MOSCOW/KIEV: Ukraine yesterday imposed martial law for 30 days in parts of the country most vulnerable to an attack from Russia after President Petro Poroshenko warned of the ‘‘extremely serious’’ threat of a land invasion.
In response, the Kremlin said the introduction of martial law in Ukraine over the Kerch Strait incident could lead to an escalation of the conflict.
Poroshenko said martial law was necessary to bolster Ukraine’s defences after Russia seized three Ukrainian naval ships and took their crew prisoner at the weekend.
The head of Ukraine’s state security service (SBU) said yesterday a Ukrainian military counterintelligence officer was seriously wounded after Russian aircraft fired missiles at Ukrainian vessels on Sunday.
The Ukrainian vessels had been trying to enter the Sea of Azov from the Black Sea via the narrow Kerch Strait that separates Crimea from the Russian mainland.
‘‘According to the confirmed operational information of the SBU, one of the Russian attack aircraft used two unguided combat missiles against the Ukrainian boats, as a result of which one of the officers of the SBU was seriously wounded,’’ Vasyl Hrytsak said.
Russia has said SBU officers were among those captured. Hrytsak confirmed that and said the security officers were there supporting the military.
‘‘The real surprise is the fact that against the two Ukrainian boats and the small tugboat, the Russians used six ‘‘FSB’’ [Russian Federal Security Service] and four naval vessels, as well as combat helicopters and aeroplanes of the Russian Federation Air Force,’’ he said.
He added that Ukraine’s security council was taking all necessary measures to secure the release of those captured.
US President Donald Trump said he did not like what was happening between Russia and Ukraine and was working with European leaders on the situation.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Russia’s seizure of the Ukrainian vessels ‘‘a dangerous escalation and a violation of international law’’ and called for restraint from both countries.
The Ukrainian parliament approved the introduction of martial law after Poroshenko reassured some sceptical lawmakers it would not be used to curb civil liberties or delay elections scheduled for next year.
Poroshenko said intelligence data suggested there was an ‘‘extremely serious threat’’ of a landbased operation against Ukraine by Russia.
It came at the end of a day when Ukraine and Russia traded accusations about Sunday’s stand off and Kiev’s allies weighed in to condemn Moscow’s behaviour.
With relations still raw after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and its backing for a proMoscow insurgency in eastern Ukraine, the crisis risked pushing the two countries into open conflict.
‘‘Russia has been waging a hybrid war against our country for a fifth year. But with an attack on Ukrainian military boats it moved to a new stage of aggression,’’ Poroshenko said.
In a phone call with Poroshenko, Nato Secretarygeneral Jens Stoltenberg offered the alliance’s ‘‘full support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty’’. Ukraine is not a Nato member though it aspires to membership.
The European Union, Britain, France, Poland, Denmark and Canada all condemned what they called Russian aggression. German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed the need for dialogue.
The standoff in the Azov Sea is more combustible now than at any time in the past four years as Ukraine has rebuilt its armed forces, previously in disarray, and has a new generation of commanders who are confident and have a point to prove.
Russia’s foreign ministry blamed Kiev for the crisis.
‘‘It’s obvious that this painstakingly thoughtthrough and planned provocation was aimed at igniting another source of tension in the region in order to create a pretext to ramp up sanctions against Russia,’’ it said.
Russia summoned the ranking diplomat at Kiev’s embassy in Moscow over the incident, the foreign ministry said. — Reuters