Kerch Strait Standoff – Days later

After a few days, we look into events of Kerch Strait Standoff. We summarized the aftermath of the conflict between Ukrainian and Russian vessels as well as described several not well know facts.

Aftermatch

• Ukrainian side confirmed the presence of SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) on its vessels.
• All 24 Ukrainian sailors were captured and sentenced to two months of prison.
• Three Ukrainian sailors were injured and taken care of in Kerch’s hospital. They all are from Gyurza-M vessel Berdyansk.
• There are no reports of injured or killed soldiers on Russian sides. According to unconfirmed reports, Ukraine boats did not fire back.
• Ukrainian boats were attacked and captured in the international waters, according to the website of Russian Secret Service and Ukrainian Ministry.

• Martial law was declared in the regions bordering Russia, Black Sea, Azov Sea, and Russian-occupied Transnistria.
• Ukraine asked NATO to deploy its ships to Azov Sea. The only response so far was from Germany and it was negative.

Not well-known facts

Attack from the air

Both sides confirmed that Russian helicopter Ka-52 opened fire on Ukrainian vessel Nikopol when it tried to escape the area. Other two vessels were neutralized by vessels of Russian Coast Guards.

A fourth ship

Not three but four Ukrainian ships left the Odesa port. Project 1849, callsign Horlivka, accompanied the vessels until they reached Kerch Strait. At ~04:00, a refueling of both Gyurza-M vessels was carried out and Horlivka turned around back to Odesa. In that time, Ukrainian vessels were already followed by the Russian Coast Guard. There is no report of the lose of Horlivka thus it is safe to assume the vessel reached Odesa according to plan.

Ukrainian help was blocked

At 10:35, two Gyurza-M vessels Kremenchuk and Lubny were caught by Russian Coast Guard far north of the Kerch Strait. Both Ukrainian vessels were dispatched from Berdyansk to support the crossing of three Ukrainian ships. They fell back to Berdyansk as soon as they spotted Russian Coast Guard vessels.

Sources: mil.gov.ua, fsb.ru, unian.info