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Kerch Strait clash pushes Kyiv towards martial law
Summary
A look back at how a naval confrontation led Ukraine's parliament to approve martial law and put a Trump–Putin meeting in doubt.
What did the Kerch Strait incident change in the space of three days? By 27 November 2018, it had pushed Ukraine to the brink of martial law and cast doubt on a planned meeting between the American and Russian presidents.
The incident took place on 25 November 2018. Russian Federal Security Service coast guard vessels fired upon and captured three Ukrainian Navy vessels that were trying to pass from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov on their way to the port of Mariupol. As later described, it was the first time Russian forces had openly engaged Ukrainian forces during the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Kyiv's response
The reaction in Kyiv was swift. On 25 November, an emergency meeting of the National Security and Defense Council was convened in response to the Russian blockade of the strait and the seizure of the vessels. Afterwards, President Petro Poroshenko said he would ask the Verkhovna Rada to support a declaration of martial law. Parliament was set to meet in emergency session at 4 p.m. local time on 26 November.
On 26 November, the Rada approved martial law in 10 oblasts for 30 days, starting on 28 November 2018. The decision followed what Ukrainian lawmakers described as aggression by Russian border vessels in the Kerch Strait against ships of the Ukrainian Navy. Martial law was therefore due to take effect the day after the covered date.
International fallout
The crisis also reached summit diplomacy. On 27 November 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump said he might cancel his scheduled meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires later that week. He cited Russia's maritime clash with Ukraine as the reason.
Taken together, the sequence was compressed: a clash at sea on 25 November, an emergency security council meeting the same day, parliamentary approval of martial law on 26 November, and, on 27 November, public uncertainty over whether Washington and Moscow would meet at the G20. Martial law in 10 oblasts, a 30-day term and a possibly cancelled presidential meeting marked how quickly a single incident in the strait moved from the military sphere into domestic and international politics.
