MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th December, 2018) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Sunday that martial law in several Ukrainian regions will not be prolonged if the Russian army does not invade the territory of Ukraine.
Following the Kerch Strait incident, the Ukrainian authorities introduced martial law in some Ukrainian regions located near the Russian border until December 26.
"My firm position is that martial law will not interfere with the elections. And if large-scale aggression doesn't begin, [i.e.] invasion of troops of the Russian armed forces on the territory of Ukraine ..., the martial law won't be prolonged," Poroshenko told a press conference.
On November 25, Ukraine's Berdyansk and Nikopol gunboats and the Yany Kapu tugboat illegally crossed the Russian maritime border as they sailed toward the Kerch Strait, the entrance to the Sea of Azov. The Ukrainian vessels were seized by Russia after failing to respond to a demand to stop.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the incident was a provocation prepared in advance as a pretext to introduce martial law ahead of Ukraine's upcoming presidential election.
