All 3 Ukrainian Ships Released By Russia Reach Ukraine's Ochakiv Naval Base - Reports

KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st November, 2019) All three Ukrainian vessels that were detained by Russia for illegally crossing the country's border and were released earlier this week, arrived at the Ukrainian naval base in the city of Ochakiv in the southern Mykolaiv region, media have reported.

Russia seized the Ukrainian warships as a result of an incident at the Kerch Strait area in November 2018. On Monday, Russia announced the vessel tranfer, saying that Nikopol, Berdyansk and Yany Kapu were no longer required to stay on the Russian territory as part of the probe into the incident.

A correspondent of Ukraine's 5 Kanal reported live that at around 03:00 p.m. (13:00 GMT) on Wednesday, Nikopol arrived in the port, followed by Berdyansk that had its hull broken and was unable to move on own its own. Yany Kapu was the last to arrive in the port.

Ukrainian navy chief Ihor Voronchenko said on Wednesday that the country's law enforcement agencies would assess that condition of the returned vessels.

In the Kerch Strait incident, the three Ukrainian warships entered the temporarily closed Russian maritime area moving toward Kerch Strait and refused to comply with the demands of the Russian authorities. The ships and crew were detained. Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the incident a provocation. The crew of the ships was transferred to Ukraine in as part of a simultaneous release of detainees.