Graphic explains how the naval incident unfolded on a map.
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MILITARY

Ukraine-Russia conflict spreads to sea

By Jordi Bou

November 26, 2018 - With relations still raw after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its backing for a pro-Moscow insurgency in eastern Ukraine, the capture of three Ukrainian naval vessels risks pushing the two countries towards a wider conflict.

The Ukrainian navy said six of its seamen were wounded when Russian coast guards opened fire on three Ukrainian ships near the Kerch Strait and then seized them.

Russia's Federal Security Service that is in charge of the coast guard said that three Ukrainian sailors were lightly injured and given medical assistance. It said the Ukrainian boats were towed to the nearby port of Kerch.

An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council was called for Monday. The European Union and NATO called for restraint from both sides.

Russia and Ukraine have traded blame over the incident that further escalated tensions that have soared since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and backed a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine said its vessels were heading to the Sea of Azov in line with international maritime rules, while Russia charged that they had failed to obtain permission to pass through the Kerch Strait separating Crimea from the Russian mainland.

The narrow strait is the only passage between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. It's spanned by a 19-kilometer bridge that Russia completed this year.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 26/11/2018; STORY: Graphic News
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