Three Ukrainian navy ships were captured by Russian security services (FSB) for "violating the Russian border" and "carrying out illegal actions in Russian territorial waters". Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has "denounced an aggressive act of Russia"

Russia confirmed Sunday that it seized three ships of the Ukrainian Navy using force in the Kerch Strait marking access to the Azov Sea, creating unprecedented tension in this sensitive area.

"In order to force the Ukrainian military ships to stop, weapons were used, " said the Russian security services (FSB), saying that "the three ships of the Ukrainian navy were boarded . "

The FSB accused Ukrainian ships - Berdyansk, Nikopol and Yani Kapu - of "violating the Russian border" and "carrying out illegal actions in Russian territorial waters" .

Earlier in the evening, the Ukrainian navy accused Russia of injuring six of its soldiers by seizing these ships after firing them.

On the Russian side, the FSB reported that "three Ukrainian personnel were injured and received medical attention. Their lives are not in danger .

"Aggressive Act of Russia"

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko "denounced an aggressive act by Russia" and a "premeditated escalation" by Moscow in this strategic area, located between Crimea, annexed in 2014 by Moscow, and eastern Ukraine , theater of a conflict between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists.

Mr Poroshenko convened a high-level military committee in the evening. The National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) must then meet in turn "to declare the martial law regime , " said the secretary of the NSDC on Ukrainian television.

Spokeswoman of the Russian diplomacy Maria Zakharova denounced the "methods of highway robbery" of Ukraine, in a statement sent to AFP: "first provocations, then strong pressure, then accusations of aggression " .

The FSB, in charge of the border guard service, has assured "irrefutable evidence that Kiev has prepared and staged a provocation using the Ukrainian navy" .

The Ukrainian navy, for its part, has warned Russia in advance of the route of its ships. According to her, her ships have spent several hours in front of the Kerch Strait, while an oil tanker placed under the bridge of Crimea , which spans the Kerch Strait, blocked access to the Strait.

This strait, the only sea route between the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Azov, is a strategic axis of prime importance for both Russia and Ukraine.

"We expect Russia to restore freedom of passage in the Kerch Strait and we call on all parties to act with the utmost restraint in order to achieve an immediate de-escalation of the situation," the EU urged. European. NATO also called "restraint and de-escalation" .

Piotr Tolstoy, vice-president of the lower house of the Russian parliament, said on Facebook that "the Ukrainian puppet authorities [...] are likely to trigger a major military conflict" and that "Russia will not allow military provocations in its territorial waters " .

"Violation" of international law

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said it was "a clear sequence of actions to be taken together" with the "friends" of Ukraine, saying that the president would speak soon to "build a coalition clear to resist the acts of aggression of Russia .

"On the instructions of President Poroshenko, we immediately appeal to the United Nations Security Council," said Volodymyr Yelchenko, Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the UN.

Russia claims control over the waters off the Crimea since the annexation of the peninsula. Kiev and Westerners accuse Moscow of deliberately "hindering" the navigation of commercial ships via the Kerch Strait.

The difficulties arose with the construction by Moscow of the controversial 19-kilometer long bridge in the Kerch Strait.

The installation of its arches in 2017 now prevents the passage of part of the ships, according to the director of the port of Mariupol.

This year, Russian border guards began to detain boats, officially for checks.Kiev believes that Moscow could go so far as to prepare an offensive against Mariupol, the last major city under Kiev control in the east of the country.

The shallow waters of the Azov Sea bathe southern Donbass, a Ukrainian region where armed conflict with the pro-Russian separatists has claimed more than 10,000 lives in four years.

Kiev and the West accuse Russia of militarily supporting the separatists, which Moscow denies.