Obviously unless they had prearranged refueling near or at the bridge, they had no plan of going through. They were under orders to travel full throttle to the Kerch Strait and not stop regardless of outcome.
Since the only option for fueling would probably come out of Mariupol and no refueling boats or barges have been seen, the captain was right- This was a provocation.
NATO, the EU, Canada, and the US Ambassador to the UN Haley unequivocally support Ukraine in its weird and unique fabrication of this event. US president Donald Trump isn't following suit.
According to Ukraine, Russia was laying in wait for the opportune moment Ukraine would send warships near its new bridge with Ukraine continually crying about a Ukraine-Russian war. Russia would then capture Ukraine's battle-tested tugboat and Soviet-era artillery ships for a museum piece perhaps?
Now that we've cut through the story and it's clear even when addressed from the Ukrainian perspective, in its best light, it is still a military provocation.
While Ukrainian ships were in international waters no actions were taken. Warnings were given for Ukraine to follow the routine procedure to go through the Kerch Strait.
The procedures include scheduling the passage 48 hours in advance to going through at the Kerch Port Captain Office. You have to confirm the plan 24 hours ahead of arrival and again 4 hours before you go through.
What is Russia's official reaction? I had a chance to ask Russia's First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Dimitry Polanskiy.
George Eliason- Why is Russia using such a soft approach to Ukraine? The Kerch Strait incident is a key example. Ukraine ignored the agreed-upon format for bringing warships into the strait and Russia came very close to addressing it like a border incident instead of a military provocation. Is there a denoted Red Line Russia is holding Ukraine too?
And I asked how does this or Ukraine's declaration of Martial law affect Russia's view as a guarantor of the Minsk Agreements?
RF Deputy PR to the UN Polanskiy- "Russia is trying to ignore Ukraine provocations to avoid war which will be imminent if we reply as we should. We don't want to give Poroshenko a chance to improve his miserable ratings but if he attacks we will reply. We still stick to Minsk Agreements and there is no other way to solve this issue if Ukraine wishes to keep these regions in one state. Martial law is an internal affair of Ukraine unless it starts an offensive in Donbass."
Why did Poroshenko declare Martial Law right after his tugboat was captured? Why did he wait five years into Ukraine's civil war? Sources all over the Internet are looking at the regions under Martial law since November 26th. If we look at the area not under these restrictions which include voting in elections, it is where Poroshenko got at least 50% of the vote in 2014.
Does the Martial law declaration affect Donbass? I asked Lugansk People's Republic (LNR) Foreign Minister Vladislav Danego and Deputy Foreign Minister Anna Soroka.
George Eliason- Kiev declared martial law. How does this affect Minsk 2?
LNR FM Danego- "We will work through the Europeans to ensure that it does not affect Minsk 2. The initiative from Merkel has already been on this topic - 60 days (for Martial Law) was adjusted to 30."
According to the still surfacing story, Poroshenko wanted to declare Martial law for 60 days. Yulia Tymoshenko and Oleg Lyashko thwarted this in the Rada and pared it back to 30 days as a compromise.
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