Martial law amid invasion fears

Ukraine moved to impose martial law yesterday after Russia fired on and captured three Ukrainian vessels in the Kerch Strait off Crimea.

Petro Poroshenko, the Ukraine President, asked the country’s Parliament to grant him emergency wartime powers, including the ability to requisition private property and suspend elections for 30 days beginning tomorrow. He had earlier asked for 60 days.

He said the move was necessary to defend Ukraine from a possible Russian ground invasion and promised that a presidential election scheduled for March would go ahead as planned. The move is controversial because martial law has never been imposed before.

Russia defied calls from Western countries to release the Ukrainian vessels and 24 crew members seized in the Sea of Azov on Monday. The Nikol and the Berdyansk, two modern gunboats, and the Yana Kapu, a tug boat, were rammed, fired on and ultimately boarded by Russian special forces after they attempted to sail through the Strait of Kerch.

The vessels were en route from Odessa to Mariupol, a Ukrainian industrial and military port on the Azov Sea. Russia temporarily blocked the passage with a tanker under the Kerch Bridge, which links Russia and Crimea, to prevent their passage.

Russia also scrambled fighter jets and helicopters. The Kremlin said the Ukrainian vessels had not informed the border control of their plans.