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Kyiv protests Russian plan to close Kerch Strait
Summary
A look back at 15 April 2021, when Ukraine objected to a reported closure of the strait to foreign warships amid a Russian military build-up.
What did Kyiv make of a reported Russian plan to shut the Kerch Strait? On 15 April 2021, Ukraine protested an alleged Russian announcement that, from the following week, the strait would be closed to foreign warships and state ships until October.
The protest came against a backdrop of rising tension. On 9 April 2021, Russia deployed more troops to its border with Ukraine as tensions escalated between the U.S., Russia and Ukraine.
Fighting in Donbass
The front line was also active. On 11 April 2021, a Ukrainian soldier was killed and another seriously wounded by artillery fire from Russian separatist forces, bringing the number of troops killed in combat that year to 27. On 12 April 2021, two more Ukrainian soldiers died in clashes with separatist forces, both from small arms fire, raising the 2021 total to 29.
Calling NATO
Also on 12 April 2021, Ukraine triggered Article 15 of the Charter on a Special Partnership, seeking an emergency meeting with NATO on the Russian escalation in Donbass and the build-up of Russian forces on its border. The article had last been triggered in 2018, during the Kerch Strait incident.
That incident took place on 25 November 2018, when the Russian Federal Security Service coast guard fired upon and captured three Ukrainian Navy vessels attempting to transit from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov on their way to Mariupol. The strait was therefore already a sensitive point when the reported closure was announced.
