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MOSCOW – Latest news on Russian-Ukrainian naval tensions near Crimea (local time):
10:40
The spokesman of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said his leader was convening an emergency meeting of senior army officers amid tensions with Russia near the Crimean peninsula.
Svyatoslav Tsegolko made the announcement on Sunday in a tweet after the Ukrainian navy announced that Russian ships had opened fire on Ukrainian ships, hitting one of them and injuring a member of the navy. crew, in the Kerch Strait. Russia did not immediately comment on these claims.
A few hours earlier, Ukraine reported that a Russian coastguard ship had struck a tug of the Ukrainian navy, which damaged its engines and hull. The incident took place on Sunday as three ships of the Ukrainian navy transited from Odessa (Black Sea) to Mariupol (Sea of Azov) through the Kerch Strait.
Russia annexed the Crimea of Ukraine in 2014.
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10:25
The Ukrainian Navy announced that a Russian ship had fired on Ukrainian Navy vessels in the Black Sea as a result of a tense clash off the coast of the Crimean Peninsula.
The Ukrainian navy said in a statement posted on Facebook Sunday night that one of its small artillery boats, the Berdyansk, had been damaged and that a crew member had been injured.
Earlier, Ukraine had said that a Russian coastguard ship had struck a tug of the Ukrainian navy, which damaged its engines and hull. The incident took place on Sunday as three ships of the Ukrainian navy transited from Odessa (Black Sea) to Mariupol (Sea of Azov) through the Kerch Strait.
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1:45 p.m.
The Ukrainian Navy announced that a Russian coastguard ship had struck a tug of the Ukrainian navy, thus damaging the engines and hull of the ship.
The incident took place on Sunday as three ships of the Ukrainian navy transited from Odessa (Black Sea) to Mariupol (Sea of Azov) through the Kerch Strait.
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) told Russian news agencies on Sunday that Ukrainian ships are still on their way even though the area was temporarily closed.
"Their goal is clear," says the FSB statement, "to create a situation of conflict in the region." The statement does not mention pushing the Ukrainian tug.
Although a 2003 treaty designated the Kerch Strait and the Azov Sea as shared territorial waters, Russia claims increased control over this crossing since 2015.
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