Home › Politics › Martial law begins in ten Ukrainian regions
Martial law begins in ten Ukrainian regions
Summary
A look back at 28 November 2018, when martial law took effect after the Kerch Strait clash and a Cabinet decree returned Pochaiv Lavra buildings to a reserve.
What did Ukraine look like on 28 November 2018, the first day of martial law in ten of its regions? It was a day shaped by the aftermath of a confrontation at sea, and by international pressure that was already building.
The trigger came on 25 November 2018 in the Kerch Strait. Russia's Federal Security Service coast guard fired upon and captured three Ukrainian Navy vessels as they tried to pass from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov, on their way to the port of Mariupol. Later accounts describe it as the first time Russian forces had openly engaged Ukrainian forces during the Russo-Ukrainian War.
From the strait to the statute book
On 26 November 2018, after what Ukrainian reporting described as aggression by Russian border vessels against Ukrainian navy ships, the Verkhovna Rada approved the introduction of martial law. It covered 10 oblasts and was to last 30 days, starting on 28 November 2018. That made 28 November the day the measure took effect.
A summit in doubt
The clash also reached the diplomatic calendar. On 27 November 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump said he might cancel his planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires that week, citing Russia's maritime clash with Ukraine. The remark tied a regional incident directly to relations between Washington and Moscow.
A separate decision on 28 November
The same day brought a decision unrelated to the security crisis. A decree of the Cabinet of Ministers returned the buildings of the Pochaiv Lavra to the Kremenets-Pochaiv Reserve. It was a matter of property and administration, and it appeared alongside the martial-law start on the calendar.
What the day marked
So 28 November 2018 combined a formal shift to martial law in ten regions, a 30-day time limit, and a live question over a planned meeting between the U.S. and Russian presidents. The events of 25 to 27 November had moved from the water to parliament and then to international diplomacy within three days.
