Ukrainian President Declares Martial Law Amid Conflict

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, right, pictured in 2017 with Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg. Wikimedia Commons.

The Russian Coast Guard, supported by Air Force patrols, opened fire on three Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait, injuring six sailors on November 25. They then boarded and captured the 24 military personnel. Euromaidan Press reported on a video recorded by Russian sailors that shows their ship ramming the Yany Kapu tug boat earlier that day. President Petro Poroshenko claimed in an interview on November 27 that this incident puts Ukraine at risk of a “full-scale war with Russia” on the basis of his military intelligence, according to NDTV.

As a result, the Ukrainian Parliament moved to declare martial law in the 10 provinces most vulnerable to a Russian attack, writes the Irish Times. Poroshenko claims that Russian tank units near the border have since tripled, according to the CBC. Russia confirmed that it has deployed surface-to-air missile systems to Crimea.

Ukrinform writes that the seized vessels were travelling to the port of Mariupol and received no response from marine traffic control at Kerch when radioing in their approach. Under a 2003 agreement, the strait is open to both countries. After finding the strait closed off by a tanker, they attempted to flee but were intercepted after leaving Crimean waters, according to Unian.

Russia’s Federal Security Service reported that the ships had illegally crossed into Russian waters, writes CNN. One of the captured sailors confirmed this in a video released by the Russian navy, but a Ukrainian commander says the statement was made under duress. Whose waters belong to whom has been ambiguous since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, reports NBC.

Since the annexation, Ukraine has been fighting separatist forces in its Eastern provinces–widely reported to be armed and funded by Russia–in a conflict that has thus far claimed over 10,000 lives, notes the Guardian.

Western states and NATO have expressed support for the Ukraine and called for restraint on both sides. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov refused calls by his German counterpart for mediators to intervene in the developing situation. Although President Trump refused to denounce Russia until a report is made, he cancelled a meeting with President Putin at the G-20 summit, according to Reuters.

Some critics argue that Ukrainian President Poroshenko is exploiting the situation for political gain as the campaigning season for the presidential election in March draws near. The Kyiv Post reports that one pollster found at the start of November Poroshenko would win less than half the vote. “He is playing the card of Commander-in-Chief, flying around in military uniform trying to project that he is the one in control,” said a member of the Atlantic Council, according to the Washington Post.

However, Leonid Bershidsky, a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, argues that martial law will do little to improve his chances, and that he should instead have focused on securing the release of the captured sailors, who are being tried as trespassers in Russian territorial waters, according to NBC. President Putin agrees that the situation is being exploited by the Poroshenko for political reasons, reports RT.