Kerch Strait

A modern Russian coastal warship has been swarmed by drones and sunk, Ukraine claims, the latest strike against the dwindling Black Sea Fleet.

Russian-controlled officials installed in occupied Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, said Wednesday that a massive fire at a military base in Kirovske forced thousands of people to evacuate and shut down a major highway nearby.

Traffic on the key bridge connecting Crimea to Russia´s mainland was halted on Monday after reports of explosions.

Russian-installed authorities in Crimea reported shooting down a cruise missile and suspending traffic on the Kerch bridge.

Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko claimed in an interview on Tuesday that Russian missiles have damaged at least 30 percent of the energy infrastructure of the entire nation since Vladimir Putin announced a “massive” strike on Monday.

Russia arrested eight people over Crimea bridge bombing and accused the Ukrainian Defence Ministry of organising the attack.

The Kerch Strait Bridge, also known as the Crimea Bridge, became the focus of international attention when it was struck by a huge explosion on Saturday.

The rail and road bridge from mainland Russia to the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014, has been pictured in flames the morning after President Vladimir Putin’s 70th birthday.

Ukrainian state security forces detained a Russian oil tanker in the port of Izmail on Wednesday, seizing documents and questioning the crew before releasing them. Ukraine said the action was taken due to the Russian ship’s involvement in the November 2018 Kerch Strait confrontation, which ended with Russia seizing a Ukrainian ship and imprisoning its 24 crew members.

The United Nations International Maritime Court on Saturday ruled Russia must immediately release 24 Ukrainian sailors taken prisoner in November and return three seized naval vessels to Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Border Guard Service on Monday accused Russia of effectively blockading the Kerch Strait by subjecting vessels bound for Ukrainian ports to an extremely slow approval process that allows only a few ships to pass per day.

Contents: Russia ‘partially unblocks’ Ukraine’s ports; Turkey and Ukraine may establish strategic military partnership against Russia

The Border Guard Service of Ukraine announced a ban on Friday on male Russian nationals between the ages of 16 and 60 entering the country for the duration of martial law, currently scheduled to last 30 days.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko gave an interview to Germany’s Bild newspaper on Thursday in which he urged NATO to deploy warships in the Sea of Azov to forestall a possible Russian invasion of his country.

The Kremlin on Thursday claimed a meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin would proceed as planned on Saturday at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but a few hours later President Trump canceled the meeting.

The leaders of Russia and Ukraine fought an escalating war of words on Wednesday, with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko warning the tense situation could escalate into a war of tanks and bombs.

China’s state-run Global Times on Monday weighed in on the increasingly serious conflict between Russia and Ukraine, advising the Ukrainians their best interests lie in playing along with their huge, belligerent neighbor instead of counting on the Western world for rescue.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin on Tuesday accused Russia of planning to “dismember” his country, beginning with the conquest of vital port cities along the Sea of Azov. Klimkin implied Russia’s seizure of three Ukrainian ships this weekend was a sign the Russians are preparing to implement their dismemberment strategy.

Russia on Monday refused to return three Ukrainian ships seized in the Black Sea on Sunday during a confrontation in which Ukraine said the Russians fired upon its vessels and injured six sailors.

The naval conflict this weekend between Russia and Ukraine was not a sudden development. Pressure has been building between the two nations for a long time, arguably even before Ukraine broke away from the disintegrating Soviet Union in 1991.

Russia alarmed the world on Sunday by reportedly seizing Ukrainian vessels in the Sea of Azov, attacking Ukrainian assets and blocking some of its most important port cities through its illegal command of the Crimean peninsula.

Contents: Russia attacks Ukraine’s navy and blockades Ukraine’s ports at Kerch Strait; Russia confirms the attack on the Ukrainian ships