On November 25, 2018, the Russian Federation implemented two acts of direct aggression against Ukraine in the Black Sea and in the Kerch Strait area – a conscious ram by the Russian border ship of the raid tug "Yany Kapu" of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a shelling on the defeat of small armoured artillery boats "Berdiansk" and "Nikopol", which resulted in 6 Ukrainian sailors were injured, and the said ships along with the members of their crews were captured by the Russian special forces.
Because of these acts of the Russian aggression, the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko convened a Military Committee and held an emergency meeting of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, in which he supported the recommendation for the introduction of a term of 60 days of martial law without general mobilization and restriction of constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens. The martial law, said the President, is being introduced solely for the purpose of strengthening Ukraine's defence against the backdrop of growing aggression and an act of undisguised aggression on the part of Russia. Ukraine is not going to carry out offensive operations, including in the Donbass, and remains committed to the Minsk arrangements. On November 26, 2018 at 16:00 Kyiv time the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine should consider this issue at its extraordinary meeting.
On the basis of the decision of the National Security and Defence Council, the Chief of the General Staff – Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine issued an order to bring the military compounds and units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine into combat readiness "complete". The personnel of the Security Service of Ukraine is also brought to full combat readiness to intensify counter-intelligence measures to prevent other provocations of the Russian special services in the territory of Ukraine and destabilize the situation inside the country. The units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Border Guard Service, the National Guard, the National Police, and the State Service of Ukraine for Emergency Situations have been transferred to an enhanced version of the service.
The General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine, together with the Security Service of Ukraine, made a registration and conducts urgent investigative actions regarding the act of conducting an aggressive war by the Russian Federation (Article 437 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The implementation by the Russian ships of the ram of the Ukrainian tug and capture of the ships of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are subject to the act of aggression in accordance with the definition given in Article 3 (d) of Resolution No. 2214 (XXIX) of the United Nations General Assembly of December 14, 1974, which provides that the act of aggression is, in particular, an attack by the armed forces of the state on land, naval or air forces, or naval and air fleets of another state.
The President of Ukraine is in direct contact with the leadership of the EU and NATO. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine promptly informed the G-7 states and the partners in the EU and NATO about acts of the Russian aggression and the situation in the Azov Sea, as well as called for the convening of an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in New York, which will be held on November 26, 2013 at 11:00 (or 20:00 Kyiv and 22:00 Tbilisi time), and an extraordinary meeting of the Permanent Council of the OSCE in Vienna.
According to Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin, what is happening now is a completely new level of provocation and aggression.
There were first reports of condemnation of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, including from the EU, NATO, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Romania, US congressmen, deputies of the German Bundestag, and others like that.
The Embassy of Ukraine expects Georgia to strongly condemn acts of the Russian aggression against Ukraine.