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Russian coastguards fired on three Ukrainian ships and captured them, injuring two crew members after a tense confrontation Sunday in the Black Sea off the Crimean peninsula, said the Ukrainian Navy.
Kiev provoked the incident, which exacerbated the growing tensions between the two countries since the annexation of the Crimea of Ukraine by the Russian government in 2014. Since then, the Kremlin n & # 39; 39 stopped trying to increase its control zone around the peninsula.
A few hours earlier on Sunday, Russia and Ukraine exchanged accusations regarding another incident involving the same three ships, before which Moscow had decided to block the crossing through the Kerch Strait, which separates the peninsula from the rest of Russian territory.
Ukrainian combat ships were hit by missiles and Russian coastguards entered, as well as a tug that seized them, the Ukrainian navy added. [19659002] The Russian Federal Security Service, known as the FSB and responsible for coast guard services, said it had "irrefutable evidence that Kiev was preparing and orchestrating the provocations … of the Black Sea." these documents will be published. "
The FSB confirmed Monday morning that he had fired on the ships to force them to stop and then seized them.
The European Union and NATO urged both sides to prevent you while Moscow releases access to the strait, which Ukraine uses to transport ships into harbors located on either side of the peninsula.
The Ukrainian authorities stated that they had warned the Russians in advance that the ships would pbad into the strait. , which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov.
Russia reported that the three Ukrainian ships crossed without authorization in Russian territorial waters, while Ukraine claimed that one of its ships had been struck by a Russian coastguard ship. [19659002] The tugboat, which was struck, sailed with the two Ukrainian gunboats from Odessa on the Black Sea to Mariupol, a port in eastern Ukraine, across the Strait of Kerch. [19659002] "Russian coastguard vessels (…) have carried out overtly aggressive actions against Ukrainian navy ships," the naval force said in a statement. The tug suffered damage to the engine, hull, guardrail and lifeboat.
The Kerch Strait – on which pbades the recently completed Kerch Bridge, connecting the Crimea to Russia – constitutes the only access to the Azov Sea. . The transit was blocked by a tanker and dozens of cargo ships are blocked.
Although a 2003 treaty states that the Kerch Strait and the Azov Sea are shared territorial waters, Russia has been exercising more control over this milestone since 2015.
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