The Libyan navy seized two vessels, one of which is reportedly Ukrainian, on suspicion of smuggling oil on Friday, a Ukrainian television news service reported.

"The Libyan navy seized two ships suspected of smuggling oil from this North African country," the Ukrainian TV news service TSN website reported on Saturday citing Libya's Navy spokesman Ayoub Qassem.

According to him, the exchange of fire continued for several hours before the vessels were seized. "The clashes lasted for three hours, but the two tankers were successfully seized," Qassem said.

One of the ships seized by the Libyan authorities is Ukraine-flagged tanker Routa, another is a vessel with an unspecified African nation's flag named Stark.

The vessels were detained in in the Sidi Said area west of Tripoli. Qassem did not report any casualties or give details on what happened to the crew of the vessels or their nationalities.