WARSAW—Ukraine has imposed martial law for 30 days in parts of the country most vulnerable to an attack from Russia after President Petro Poroshenko warned of the “extremely serious” threat of a land invasion.
Poroshenko said on Nov. 26 that martial law was necessary to bolster Ukraine’s defenses after Russia seized three Ukrainian naval ships and took their crew prisoner over the weekend.
The Ukrainian Parliament approved the introduction of martial law after Poroshenko reassured some skeptical lawmakers that it would not be used to curb civil liberties or delay elections scheduled for next year.
It came at the end of a day when Ukraine and Russia traded accusations about Sunday’s standoff and Kiev’s allies weighed in to condemn Moscow’s behavior.
International Response
U.S. President Donald Trump said he was working with European leaders on the situation.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Russia’s seizure of the Ukrainian vessels “a dangerous escalation and a violation of international law” and called for restraint from both countries.
“The United States condemns this aggressive Russian action. We call on Russia to return to Ukraine its vessels and detained crew members, and to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Pompeo said in a statement.
With relations still raw after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and its backing for a pro-Moscow insurgency in eastern Ukraine, the crisis risked pushing the two countries into open conflict.
‘All Hell Broke Loose’
Volodymyr Yelchenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.N., told the officials at an emergency meeting of the Security Council that Russia orchestrated the incident. Yelchenko claims to have tapes of radio traffic that would prove his claim.Yelchenko said “all hell broke loose” when border patrol boats belonging to Russia’s FSB security service seized two small Ukrainian armored artillery vessels and a tugboat after opening fire on them and wounding three sailors on Nov. 25.
The skirmish occurred in the strategically significant Kerch Strait, where a Kremlin-built bridge connects Russia to the southeastern portion of Ukraine that’s occupied by Russia-backed forces.
Russia said the Ukrainian ships illegally crossed into Russian waters and called the crisis a “planned provocation.”
Ukraine contends that its vessels followed international maritime rules.
A photograph of the damaged Ukrainian vessel was published Nov. 26 on a military news website, showing the damage allegedly from a Russian 30mm naval cannon projectile.
Interfax news agency quoted Russia’s human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, as saying on Nov. 26 that 24 Ukrainian sailors were being detained. Three of the sailors were wounded but were not in serious condition.
Forced Confessions?
Russian FSB officials published footage of the sailors on Nov. 26 showing fragments of their interrogation.In the recordings, the sailors appear to admit to breaching Russian territorial waters.
“En route to Mariupol via the Kerch Strait, we entered Russian territorial waters,” one of the sailors can be heard in the video. “Border patrol officials of the Russian Federation warned us that we were in violation of Russian law. The ordered us multiple times to leave Russian territorial waters.”
Another sailor said that the actions of the Ukrainian crew were “provocative.”
Ukrainian media has denounced the confessions, saying they were most probably coerced.
