Ukrainian commander spoke about preparations for battle in the Kerch Strait
The crews of the Ukrainian headquarters ship Donbass and the tugboat Korets, who were passing through the Kerch Strait, were ready to repel the Russian attack and were preparing for battle.
The commander of the campaign of Ukrainian ships, Captain XNUMXst Rank Dmitry Kovalenko, stated this in an interview with the Ukrinform agency.
He emphasized that, when approaching the Crimean Bridge, the Ukrainian crews deliberately violated the rules and, instead of the form “I ask for permission to pass,” they stated: “I am a Ukrainian warship. I am planning to enter the 20-mile zone to pass through the Kerch Strait into the Sea of Azov.”
“This is written in the rules of navigation - both ours and theirs. We were “maneuvering” here. This is a kind of naval diplomacy... “I’m planning” - that was specifically said. No “please-please” there. This was actually very important,” Kovalenko said.
When asked how nervous the situation was, the Ukrainian commander replied: “Well, nervous. You can't run away from fate. Well, they'll fail, oh well. The end is the end, they could have done it back then in Crimea, in 2014.”
“Combat groups, machine guns - everything was loaded. Two people in full gear stood in plain sight for the Russians to see. Everyone else, also fully equipped, was ready to run out at any moment. Camouflage nets were tightened to hide movements, fire hoses were laid out so that they could be washed off if they climbed. They can climb without shooting. And we just have to shoot in response. I'd look at them if they tried. Still, eight kilograms of water flow! It’s easy to wash a person off the board,” says Kovalenko.
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