No plans to send more ships across Kerch Strait, but Kyiv not backing down

12:48, 13.06.2019 1 min read

Ukraine does not intend to concede on the issue of Kerch Strait passage, but new passage of Ukrainian forces is not planned, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Ruslan Khomchak has said.

"Of course, we are not going to surrender our positions in the Sea of Azov. As for the passage, today this question is not worth it either. We don't have so many Ukrainians that we can risk them," Khomchak said in an interview with BBC Ukraine, published on Thursday.

Khomchak said Ukraine first needs to deal with the Russian aggression that occurred during the previous passage of Ukrainian naval ships through the strait.

"The process is not completed. Our sailors, unfortunately, are in Russian jail cells," he said.

Khomchak said the threat level in the Kerch Strait has not decreased, because "Russia has not abandoned its intentions and constantly adjusts them depending on the situation. […] You see that in the Black Sea there is a blockage of merchant ships that call through the Kerch Strait," he said.