Ukraine: Pompeo pledges military assistance, President Poroshenko said



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Poroshenko told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that during a recent telephone call, Pompeo had promised a "total coordination" on the protection of Ukraine's sovereignty in the aftermath of the conflict with Russia.

He also said that the Ukrainian government was considering limiting the ability of Russians to enter Ukraine during the period of martial law.

"One of the proposals addressed to our Chief of Staff and the Head of Border Control is that there would be certain limits for the Russians to enter Ukraine during this special period," said Poroshenko, from Kiev. , adding that a final decision will probably be made tomorrow.

Poroshenko's comments come after a Russian-controlled Crimean court ordered that 12 Ukrainian sailors captured during clashes with Russian forces on Sunday be detained for two months. It was a gesture likely to stir up tensions between the two countries.

A judge from the city of Simferopol, Crimea, said Tuesday that he had been arrested pending trial, accused of violating the Russian border, Russian media reported.

The sailors, including the commander of a small Ukrainian gunboat, will be formally arrested in a Simferopol detention center until January 25, the judge said.

Judicial proceedings resume Wednesday for the remaining sailors.

The decision comes after a confrontation between the two countries around a waterway connecting the Azov Sea to the Black Sea, when Russia opened fire and seized three ships of the Ukrainian Navy and arrested 24 sailors Ukrainian.

Ukraine and Russia have presented conflicting accounts of the incident, each accusing the other of violating the laws of the sea.

Ukraine said two of its small gunners and a tug had been attacked Sunday by Russian naval forces after entering the Kerch Strait in the direction of the city of Mariupol.

The video of the incident published by the Ukrainian authorities appeared to show a Russian ship pounding the Ukrainian tug.

The incident provoked fury in Kiev, while Russia accused Ukraine of acting as an aggressor and described the incident as "dangerous provocation" of Kiev .

The Kerch Strait – a shallow, narrow stretch of water, two to three miles wide at one point – connects the Azov Sea to the Black Sea and stretches between the Crimean Peninsula and Russia. It is an important economic lifeline for Ukraine as it allows its ships to access the Black Sea.

It is also the nearest access point for Russia to Crimea, annexed by Ukraine to Moscow in 2014. A Russian construction bridge over the Kerch Strait was opened in May .

A 2003 agreement confirms that the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait are the inland waters of Russia and Ukraine.

Ukraine to impose martial law

On Monday, the Ukrainian parliament voted in favor of the adoption of martial law on Wednesday in parts of the country for 30 days, the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform announced, endorsing an urgent proposal presented by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

In a statement on Twitter, Poroshenko said martial law would be introduced only in areas bordering Russia or adjacent to areas where Russian troops are stationed. This includes the regions bordering the Azov and Black seas and part of the border with Moldavian Transnistria, where Russian troops are stationed.

With the Kerch Strait crisis, a hidden war unfolds

On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Ukraine's decision to introduce martial law had a "barely camouflaged" political agenda, although he added that the move was an internal matter in Kiev.

"This is an internal matter in Ukraine," said Peskov before adding: "In the context of electoral processes, such a decision to impose martial law has a very specific connotation, barely camouflaged ".

The Ukraine is expected to have presidential elections in March, after the end of the martial law period.

Russia and Ukraine are grappling with a long-running conflict since the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 and a war against Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country cost the lives of more than 10,000 people.

The West criticizes the Russian aggression

The Sunday incident sparked international condemnation of the use of force by Russia.

At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to defuse tensions after the confrontation, US ambbadador Nikki Haley called the incident "reckless escalation in Russia" and demanded that the Kremlin release the sailors.

Nikki Haley at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Ukraine Monday in New York.

"Preventing the legal transit of Ukraine through the Kerch Strait is a violation of international law, it is an arrogant act that the international community must condemn and which it will never accept" said Haley Monday.

The European Member States of the United Nations Security Council – including France, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom – have also issued a statement calling on Russia to restore freedom of pbadage across the Strait of Europe. Kerch.

CNN's Mick Krever contributed to this story.

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