2018/11: Ukrainian Lawmakers To Consider Martial Law Proposal After Russia Opens Fire On Ships In Black Sea

• GlobalSecurity: Ukrainian Lawmakers To Consider Martial Law Proposal After Russia Opens Fire On Ships In Black Sea

Ukrainian lawmakers will hold an extraordinary session for November 26 to consider a military council recommendation to introduce martial law Russian forces opened fire on a group of Ukrainian ships in the Black Sea off the coast of the Crimean Peninsula.

The announcement of the hostilities on November 25 came on a day of heightened tension after Russia blocked the three Ukrainian Navy ships from passing from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov via the Kerch Strait.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Ukrainian authorities of using „gangster tactics“ in the Kerch Strait — first a provocation, then pressure, and finally accusations of aggression.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), which oversees the country’s border guard service, said its forces fired weapons at the Ukrainian Navy ships to get them to stop after they had illegally entered Russia’s territorial waters.

But the Ukrainian Navy says its vessels — including two small-sized artillery boats — were attacked by Russian coast guard ships as they were leaving the 12-mile zone of the Kerch Strait and moving back into the Black Sea.