Kerch Strait. (c) Bai Xueqi/Xinhua News Agency/PA Images. All rights reserved. On 25 November, two Ukrainian gunboats, the Berdyansk and Nikopol, accompanied by the raid tug Yany Kapu, were making a routine maneuver from Odesa, on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, to the city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov. In accordance with a 2003 treaty between Ukraine and Russia, non-commercial and naval vessels of both countries have freedom of navigation in the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait that cuts between Crimea and Russia. This same treaty also permits vessels belonging to third countries to enter the Azov Sea’s waters and use the Kerch Strait when entering and exiting Ukrainian and Russian ports.
As they approached the Azov Sea, the Ukrainian side reported their intentions to the Russian navy. But at the Kerch Strait, Russian naval vessels committed an act of military aggression on the Ukrainian ships. A Russian border guard cruiser, the Don, rammed the Yany Kapu, damaging the Ukrainian tugboat’s engine and piercing the ship’s plating. After the collision, the warships continued their voyage across the Azov Sea.
In footage released by Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, you can see how the Don’s Russian commanders drive their ship towards the Yany Kapu, hitting it on the starboard side. Russian naval vessels then began blocking the Berdyansk and Nikopol, hampering their attempts to help the Yany Kapu. According to the Ukrainian Navy, the Berdyansk attempted to contact a Russian FSB Border Service coastal station to report its intention to cross the Kerch Strait at about 4am, but received no response from Russian dispatchers. Later, negotiations with the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s anti-submarine ship Suzdalets took place in Kerch’s port, but the Ukrainian Navy’s message still went unanswered.
