Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called an emergency meeting of his top military leaders on Sunday after Ukraine says that Russia rammed a navy tugboat, fired on two other Ukrainian naval gunboats and seized all three.
Poroshenko’s spokesperson tweeted out the meeting saying, “Due to extraordinary events, the president convened a military cabinet.”
Через надзвичайні події на Азові Президент скликав військовий кабінет.
— Svyatoslav Tsegolko (@STsegolko) November 25, 2018
Reports say that Russia then seized all three of the Ukrainian naval ships after a short chase.
This occurred off the coast of Crimea, which Russia invaded and annexed from Ukraine in 2014 against the warnings of international leaders, including then U.S. President Obama.
Russia has not commented on the Ukrainian claims.
In a statement, Ukraine says their Navy gunboats Berdyansk and Nikopol were fired upon, hit and disabled. The navy tugboat was forced to stop after being rammed.
Earlier in the day, Russia scrambled two fighter jets to monitor the Ukrainian naval ships.
Poroshenko tweeted Sunday calling out Russia’s covert “war” against Ukraine saying, “We highly appreciate the efforts of the World Congress of Ukrainians in bringing to the world public the truthful information about the war, which Russia has unleashed against Ukraine, political prisoners, oppression of human rights and freedoms in Crimea, in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.”
