Ukraine accuses Russia of opening fire on two navy ships in Black Sea
● Two crew members wounded as tensions rise
The Ukrainian navy said Russia’s coast guard opened fire on Ukrainian vessels in the Black Sea yesterday after a tense stand-off off the coast of the Crimean Peninsula, wounding two crew members.
Russia did not respond to the allegations. Ukraine said two of its vessels were struck and that Russian coast guard crews boarded them and a tugboat and seized them.
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 yesterday, Russia and Ukraine traded accusations over another incident involving the same three vessels, prompting Moscow to block passage through the Kerch Strait between Crimea and the Russian mainland.
The ukrainian vessels apparently wanted to sail through the strait to other ports in Ukraine, and Ukrainian authorities said they had given the Russians advance notice.
Russia’s coast guard said the three Ukrainian vessels made an unauthorised crossing through Russian territorial waters, while Ukraine alleged that one of its boats was rammed by a Russian coast guard vessel.
The incident began after the Ukrainian navy claimed a Russian coast guard vessel rammed one of its tugboats, which was travelling with two Ukrainian navy artillery boats from Odessa on the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Sea of Azov, through the Kerch Strait.
“Russian coast guard vessels
... carried out openly aggressive actions against Ukrainian navy ships,” the Ukrainian navy said.
It said a Russian coast guard ship damaged the tugboat’s engine, hull, side railing and a lifeboat.
The navy added that Russia had been informed in advance of the planned journey.
Russia then blocked off 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. Passage under the bridge has been blocked by a tanker and dozens of cargo ships awaiting passage are stuck.
Russia has not given any indication of how long it will keep the strait blocked, but a long-term closure to civilian traffic would amount to an economic blockade of Ukrainian cities on the Azov coast.
Russia’s Black Sea fleet greatly outmatches the Ukrainian navy.
Ukrainian cities on the Sea of Azov include strategically vital centres such as Mariupol, the closest government-controlled city to Donetsk and Luhansk, the breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia-backed separatists.
Russia’s Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, told Russian news agencies after the first incident that the Ukrainian ships held their course and violated Russian territorial waters. It accused the Ukrainian navy of staging a provocation against Russia.
“Their goal is clear,” the FSB said, “to create a conflict situation in the region.”
The Ukrainian foreign ministry said Russia’s actions were a violation of the UN Charter and international law.