Russia’s coast guard ships on Sunday intentionally carried out acts of aggression against the ships of the Ukrainian Navy that were engaged in planned relocation from the port of Odesa to the port of Mariupol of the Sea of Azov, the Ukrainian Navy said.
On November 25, Ukrainian Navy ships, consisting of two small armored artillery boats and a raid tug, carried out a planned deployed from the port of Odessa to the port of Mariupol of the Azov Sea.
“However, contrary to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Treaty between Ukraine and the Russian Federation on Cooperation in the Use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, Russian ships – Sobol class patrol boats, the Don coast guard ship, Mangust-class patrol boats, and the Suzdalets corvette – carried out openly aggressive actions against the ships of the Ukrainian Navy,” the Ukrainian Navy said in a statement on Facebook on Sunday morning.
The Russian border ship “Don” mounted an intentional ram attack on a Ukrainian Navy tugboat whose main engine was damaged. It also damaged shell plating and guard railing of the Ukrainian vessel, and its life raft was lost.
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), for its part, says three Ukrainian navy vessels, which crossed the marine border on Sunday morning, are heading for Kerch strait that separates Crimea from mainland Russia.
“This morning at around 7 a.m. Moscow time, three vessels belonging to Ukrainian armed forces violated the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea… to enter Russian territorial waters,” read a statement from Russia’s federal security agency FSB, which is responsible for maintaining the country’s borders.
The Ukrainian Navy states that “the invaders’ dispatcher service refuses to ensure the right to freedom of navigation, guaranteed by international agreements.”
It is also noted that Russia has once again demonstrated its aggressive nature and complete disregard for the norms of international law.
