The commander of the Naval Forces of Ukraine, Igor Voronchenko, assessed the situation at the Kerch Strait as “difficult and tense”, but assured that the Ukrainian armored boats had a combat readiness. Reported by Radio Liberty.

"Our crews of armored boats are on alert and ready for a possible landing of the (Russian) landing force," he said.

Commenting on the situation in which Ukrainian ships found themselves at the entrance to the Sea of ??Azov, Voronchenko noted that now it is difficult to predict how long they will have to wait for the opportunity to cross the strait. At the same time, he refuted the statements of Russia that the Russian ship, which allegedly ran aground.

"They act as they did in 2014 in the Donuzlav Bay in the Crimea, when they sank their ships and our ships could not pass. As of now, we cannot pass through either the right or the left, ”the admiral said.

According to him, now in the area of ??the Kerch bridge there are eight ships of Russia - two ships of the Black Sea Fleet and six boats of the FSB border guard service.

On the morning of November 25, when the Russian ship "Don" went to the ram of the Ukrainian Yany Kapu raid tug, Voronchenko noted that the tug was rammed not once, but twice. In addition, representatives of the Russian Navy approached a dangerous distance to the Ukrainian ships about 15 times.. Naval Commander called it "a typical provocation on the part of Russia".

According to the admiral, Ka-52 helicopters, which the Navy had previously fixed over their ships, also resorted to provocations..

On the question of whether the Ukrainian boats had the opportunity to use weapons in response to provocation by the Russian courts, the commander replied that the Navy "will clearly use all the norms of international maritime law".

On the morning of November 25, the Ukrainian Naval Forces reported that the border ships of the Russian fleet had resorted to “openly aggressive actions”. In particular, the border ship "Don" went to the ram of the Ukrainian raid tug. This happened at the time, as three Ukrainian ships made the transition from the port of Odessa to the port of Mariupol.