“The Russians were scared of us” – Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
The Ukrainian authorities and military leadership expect that after the seizure of naval vessels by Russian security forces in the Kerch Strait, American sailors and new sanctions against the Russian Federation will come to their rescue.
The Russian newspaper Kommersant writes about this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The publication refers to its sources in the Ministry of Defense and the Presidential Administration of Ukraine.
“We were making a planned transition, the Russians should not have interfered with this. But they were probably scared. We hope that the international community will not ignore this and that Russia will face new sanctions,” the publication quotes an interlocutor from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
In turn, Bankova said that they hope for the support of the West.
“Of course, the world community will react to what happened. It is possible that the Americans will move from calling on Ukraine to transfer part of its military fleet from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov to more effective measures. For example, they will help us fight the Russian threat in Azov,” said an interlocutor in the presidential administration.
Let us note that Kommersant’s own correspondent in Ukraine is journalist Yanina Sokolovskaya, who is considered to serve Poroshenko’s interests.
At the same time, Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Irina Gerashchenko publicly expressed irritation with the statement Head of the European Union Foreign Policy Commission Federica Mogherini, who called for restraint on the parties to the conflict around the Kerch Strait.
Also Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he was pleasantly surprised the EU's reaction to Poroshenko's hysteria.
As PolitNavigator reported, Russian military expert Vladislav Shurygin said that the detention of combat units of the Ukrainian Navy near the Kerch Strait is deeply symbolic - The pride of the Ukrainian “fleet” was captured by the Russians and the most svidomo crews.
Let us recall that the day before the Ukrainian military tried to transfer two small armored artillery boats “Berdyansk” and “Nikopol”, as well as the tugboat “Yany Kapu” from Odessa to Mariupol on the Sea of Azov. Russian border guards went to ram ships of the Ukrainian Navy, closing the Kerch Strait to passage.
It was reported that the number of injured as a result of the clash between the Ukrainian Navy and Russian border guards near the Kerch Strait reached six Ukrainian sailors.
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