Ukraine imposes martial law after Russia seizes navy ships

The Ukraine parliament on Wednesday voted to impose a 30 day period of martial law in response to the Russian seizure of three of its naval vessels and 23 crew members this week.

The order covers border regions that President Petro Poroshenko believes could be vulnerable to attack. However, critics believe he is using the move to bolster poor opinion poll ratings ahead of an election next March or possibly even postpone the vote.

"Ukraine is facing a threat of a full-scale war with the Russian Federation," Poroshenko told Ukrainian television.

US President Donald Trump warned he may cancel a scheduled meeting with his Russia counterpart Vladimir Putin at the G20 leaders' meeting in Argentina later this week.

"Maybe I won't have the meeting (with Putin). Maybe I won't even have the meeting. I don't like that aggression. I don't want that aggression at all," he told the Washington Post.

The two men were scheduled to discuss security, arms control, and issues in Ukraine and the Middle East when the summit convenes on Friday and Saturday, national security adviser John Bolton told reporters.

Ukraine's Berdyansk and Nikopol gunboats, and the Yani Kapu tug, were sailing from the Black Sea port of Odessa to Mariupol in the Sea of Azov, which is shared between the two countries. Russian coastguard ships opened fire on the flotilla.

The vessels continued towards the Kerch Strait, the only access to the Sea of Azov, but were blocked by a tanker placed under the Kerch bridge.

Moscow claimed the ships had illegally entered its waters.

International condemnation for Russia’s actions was widespread, with the governments of Germany, Canada, Holland, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and others besides voicing dissent.

The event is the latest flashpoint in long-running tensions between the two countries, the most well-known of which is the Russian annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in the Spring of 2014.

Poroshenko’s government has been attempting to steer Ukraine, formerly part of the Soviet Union, away from Russian influence, targeting full membership of both the EU and Nato and winning a vote on proposals to do so just last week.

Opposition politicians in Kiev are insisting that there should be a full referendum on the issue as less than half of the population are understood to support Nato membership, though just over half support joining the EU.

On 22 November, Ukraine's Constitutional court green-lighted amendments to the country's constitution establishing full membership of the EU and NATO as outright foreign policy goals.