WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th November, 2018) Secretary of State Michael Pompeo reiterated US support to Ukraine in a phone talk with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko following the naval incident in the Kerch Strait, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement.
On Sunday, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said it intercepted three Ukrainian naval ships that illegally entered Russian territorial waters while moving from the Black Sea into the Azov Sea.
"Secretary Pompeo reiterated strong US support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, extending to its territorial waters," Nauert said on Monday after the phone call. "Secretary Pompeo ... expressed appreciation for Ukrainian steps to de-escalate the situation with Russia."
Nauert, however, did not specify what steps Kiev has taken to deescalate the situation over the naval incident. She noted that Poroshenko expressed gratitude for Washington's support.
Ukraine's Berdyansk and Nikopol gunboats and the Yany Kapu tug crossed the Russian maritime border. The vessels sailed towards the Kerch Strait, an entrance to the Sea of Azov, where the ships were seized by Russia due to the lack of reply to a lawful demand to stop.
In response to the situation, Ukrainian authorities decided on Monday to introduce martial law in selected regions of Ukraine along the border with Russia as well as along the coast of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov for 30 days.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it handed on Monday a protest note to Ukraine's Charge d'Affaires Ruslan Nimchinsky over the Sunday incident in the Kerch Strait. It added the responsibility for the escalation of the conflict situation in the Azov Sea-Black Sea region lies fully with the authorities in Kiev.
