Russian Navy fires on and captures Ukrainian Warships
Crisis in Ukraine again, this time it comes after Russia blockaded access to the Azov Sea using two warships. Ukraine's navy responded and sent two naval ships to the area.
The Russians later sunk an oil tanker to permanently deny Ukraine access to the strait. Seems like Russians have fired on and now captured the two Ukrainian warships and Ukraine is declaring martial law and mobilizing.
Russia has seized three Ukrainian naval vessels off the coast of the Crimean Peninsula in a major escalation of tensions between the two countries.
Two gunboats and a tug were captured by Russian forces. Ukraine says they were fired on and six crew were injured.
The countries blame each other for the incident. Ukraine's government said it would declare martial law.
The crisis began when Russia accused the Ukrainian ships of illegally entering its waters.
The Russians placed a tanker under a bridge in the Kerch Strait - the only access to the Sea of Azov, which is shared between the two countries.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called an urgent meeting of his "war cabinet" over the incident, his spokesperson said.
The shallow Sea of Azov lies east of Crimea, and south of the Ukrainian regions partially seized by pro-Russian separatists.
The two Ukrainian ports on its northern shore - Berdyansk and Mariupol - are key for exporting grain and produce such as steel, also for importing coal.
In 2003, Ukraine and Russia signed a treaty that defined the Sea of Azov as internal waters of the two countries. The treaty guaranteed free navigation to all Ukrainian and Russian vessels.
Summary of incident so far.
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Ukrainian Navy ships (2 small rocket boats and 1 tug) were heading from Odessa to Mariupol.
Having approached to the Crimean Bridge, they were accused of "trespassing the state border of Russia" and attacked (in a form of ramming) by the Russian Guard Ship "Don".
Don damaged the tug's propulsion unit but, according to Ukrainian media (not confirmed by Russian ones), got damages as well and is off the proper service for now.
Russian forces have blocked the passage under the bridge by sinking a tanker there, to prevent Ukrainian ships from passing further to the Sea of Azov.
Ukrainian Navy report they have informed Russian side of the plan to send naval ships to Mariupol and provided the whole itinerary with timings.
After 3 hours of waiting, Ukrainian ships (not confirmed) passed under the bridge and headed towards Mariupol.
Sources both onboard of Ukrainian ships and on the Kerch Peninsula report that Ukrainian ships have been stopped by Russian forces near Zavetnoye village (which is before the bridge, so the previous item seems void)
Sources in Crimea say the Russian have sent couple combat helis to perhaps deliver special task force teams to further attempt to board Ukrainian ships in the night time.
Ukrainian Navy say the mariners onboard of their ships are ready to any actions by the Russian.
Ukrainian ships were ordered to go back to Odessa, in order to prevent possible boarding of the Russian special task forces
After leaving the 12-mile zone, Russian ships started effective fire on the Ukrainian ships
This is definitely an escalation, but also worth mentioning that the fighting never really stopped. It slowed down, but there were shots being fired almost daily in some areas and occasional casualties since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea.
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Remember when Ukraine gave up their nuclear weapons and NATO promised in exchange to defend them in case of Russian attacks?
They should have kept the nukes.
Yeah, I'm sure that the Ukraine is regretting that offer. We're going to see a more belligerent China and Russia as they continue to rebuild their military strength.
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Remember when Ukraine gave up their nuclear weapons and NATO promised in exchange to defend them in case of Russian attacks?
They should have kept the nukes.
Yep, its ridiculous. Slight Edit thought it was not NATO, if it was the incursion in Ukraine would have been war.
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Budapest Memorandum
Main article: Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances
On December 5, 1994 the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Britain and the United States signed a memorandum to provide Ukraine with security assurances in connection with its accession to the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state. The four parties signed the memorandum, containing a preamble and six paragraphs. The memorandum reads as follows:[10]
The United States of America, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,
Welcoming the accession of Ukraine to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as non-nuclear-weapon State,
Taking into account the commitment of Ukraine to eliminate all nuclear weapons from its territory within a specified period of time,
Noting the changes in the world-wide security situation, including the end of the Cold War, which have brought about conditions for deep reductions in nuclear forces.
Confirm the following:
1. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine, in accordance with the principles of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine.
2. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, and that none of their weapons will ever be used against Ukraine except in self-defence or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.
3. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine, in accordance with the principles of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, to refrain from economic coercion designed to subordinate to their own interest the exercise by Ukraine of the rights inherent in its sovereignty and thus to secure advantages of any kind.
4. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to seek immediate United Nations Security Council action to provide assistance to Ukraine, as a non-nuclear-weapon State party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, if Ukraine should become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used.
5. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm, in the case of Ukraine, their commitment not to use nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear-weapon State party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, except in the case of an attack on themselves, their territories or dependent territories, their armed forces, or their allies, by such a State in association or alliance with a nuclear-weapon State.
6. Ukraine, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America will consult in the event a situation arises that raises a question concerning these commitments.
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Last edited by Thor; 11-25-2018 at 10:48 PM.
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At this point the Russians from my understanding have pretty much stationed a lot of elements of their Black Sea Fleet there.
They have a task force of 5 guided missile frigates and a guided missile destroyer built around the Moskva which is a guided missile cruiser and the fleet flag.
They've moved up to 7 SSK's into the area as well as ground troops.
Right now, I doubt that the NATO forces would contemplate trying to pressure the Black Fleet, the situation would be lousy for them to do that. The American's could move the fire power to push off the Black Sea Fleet, but I doubt they're interested.
If I recall, the Russians also seized most of the Ukraine Navy.
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Neat. What do German's prefer to be called? And when in some countries Canada is spelled with a 'K', does that bother us?
Referring to it as ''The Ukraine'' is a method of dehumanizing that the Russian government sometimes does to deny Ukrainian sovereignty and independence after the USSR split. Might not seem like a big deal to most of us, but some Ukrainians actually will be offended if you refer to their country that way.
My girlfriend is Ukrainian and currently over there finishing her degree and staying with her family. Got a hold of her this morning and she is safe, but marital law is close to being implemented. Scary situation, but she's not that worried as she isn't close to the conflict zones and told me Ukrainians are more interested in fighting among themselves then with Russia. She said that the martial law might actually be a political play by President Poroshenko, as presidential elections are in January. But with martial law enacted, elections will be delayed so he is able to retain power.
She said there was a press release that there might be travel restrictions, but only for men. Her cousin was supposed to fly to Egypt tomorrow for a vacation with her husband, but now their is uncertainty if they can go as he might be required to stay. Me and her are going on a trip in January together, so we're both watching intently to see if more travel restrictions for citizens will be enacted.
I'm more worried about this situation then she is, so I guess that's somewhat good news. She says a lot of it is sensationalized by the media, as the main conflict (other then what happened recently) isn't even in Crimea, but in the eastern region of Donetsk.
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This is going to sound really pedantic but Ukranians prefer just "Ukraine", not "the Ukraine"
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I was told martial law will be approved by the parliament for 30 days. 60 days would have meant elections would be postponed, thereby guaranteeing Poroshenko's presidency past that point. That didn't sit well with many people. 30 days means elections will still happen.
Russian Navy fires on and captures Ukrainian Warships
