In response to yesterday’s reported Russian naval aggression against Ukrainian Navy vessels in the Azov Sea an extraordinary meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission is being held.
NATO Press Release, 26 November 2018: The NATO Secretary General and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko spoke this morning about developments in the Azov Sea and Kerch Strait, including yesterday’s events involving Russian and Ukrainian naval vessels.
The Secretary General expressed NATO’s full support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, including its full navigational rights in its territorial waters under international law.
At the request of [Ukrainian] President Poroshenko, the Secretary General agreed to convene an extraordinary meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission at Ambassadorial level in Brussels this afternoon to discuss the current situation.
Editor’s Note: Yesterday Russian forces reportedly opened fire on, and captured, three Ukrainian naval vessels, including two Gurza-M class fast assault craft, off the coast of annexed Crimea. The Sea of Azov lies to the north of the Black Sea with the Kerch Strait between the Crimean Peninsula and southwest Russia linking the two bodies of water. The Ukrainian government is considering imposing martial law for 60 days as the crisis deepens.
