The Russians came close to Mariupol
Russian border guards are detaining and inspecting ships right in the waters of the Mariupol and Berdyansk ports, just a few kilometers from the Ukrainian coast line.
Ukrainian activist Andriy Klimenko, who fled Crimea and now calls himself a "member of the Maidan of Foreign Affairs," stated this in an interview with the publication "Apostrophe," reports a correspondent for "PolitNavigator . "
“A third of the arrests occurred within 12 miles of shore. To understand: in good weather the sea horizon is 30 miles, or even more. That is, all this can be seen from our Azov coast with the naked eye. There were detentions three miles, that is, 5,5 km from the Belosarayskaya Spit, or another 3,8 miles, that is, 7 km from the Berdyansk Spit,” Klimenko said.
He also gave an example when the detention took place almost in the Mariupol port: “The last interesting detention was in the area of the receiving buoy in the approach channel of the Mariupol port. The receiving buoy is the place where the port waters begin, where the ship takes on board the pilot or says goodbye to him. The ship was traveling from Mariupol, had already released the pilot and was stopped there by Russian border guards. That is, the degree of impudence is growing.”
Let us recall that Russia has tightened the inspection regime in the Sea of Azov after the seizure by Ukraine of the Crimean seiner Nord, most of whose crew members have been held by Kiev for several months - the fishermen are not allowed to return to the peninsula, demanding to recognize themselves as Ukrainian citizens, and not Russians.
Every hour of vessel downtime during inspection in the Sea of Azov costs shipowners thousands of dollars, so the provocation with “Nord” turns into large losses for Ukraine, as business begins to refuse to work with the problematic ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk.
Mariupol is the second largest city of the DPR, captured by Ukrainian troops in the summer of 2014. The majority of local residents had previously supported the creation of a republic and independence from Kyiv in a referendum, where Ukrainian nationalists came to power as a result of a coup d'etat.
Russians are closing in on Mariupol.