Ukraine has banned Russian men aged between 16 and 60 from entering the country, amid fears Moscow is planning an invasion.

The Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko said the restrictions have been imposed to prevent Russians from forming "private armies" in his country.

Moscow has been supporting Russian separatists in the east of the country with troops and weapons.

Mr Poroshenko also told Sky News he has evidence that Russian tanks are massing along his country's border.

Ukraine imposed martial law earlier this week following an escalation in the long-simmering conflict between the two nations over Crimea, which Moscow seized n 2014.

In a violent confrontation, Russian border guards fired on and captured three Ukrainian ships in the Black Sea.

The Ukrainian vessels had been trying to pass through the Kerch Strait on their way to the Sea of Azov.

The latest crisis led US President Donald Trump to cancel a meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin at a summit of world leaders in Argentina.

Mr Trump said it would not be appropriate as Moscow had still not released the 24 crew members of the seized vessels.

A Crimea court has ruled that the sailors will be detained for two months pending the outcome of an investigation.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian intelligence officers have been searching the home of the the head of Kiev's largest and oldest monastery. which is part of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Spy chief Ihor Guskov said the Russian cleric Father Pavlo, who leads the Pechersk Monastery, is suspected of "inciting hatred".

The Ukrainian authorities have sought to portray Russian Orthodox clerics in the country as supporting separatists.</s>Russian men between the ages of 16 and 60 have been barred entering Ukraine after long-simmering tensions between the countries escalated into a clash on the Black Sea.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko tweeted Friday that restrictions on Russian nationals were taken in order to prevent the formation of "private armies which in reality are representatives of Russian armed forces."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters Friday that Moscow would not reciprocate and impose similar restrictions on Ukrainian men.

Russian ships opened fire on and seized three Ukrainian vessels and 24 crew members in the Sea of Azov off the coast of Crimea on Sunday. Ukraine says the attack occurred in international waters.

Amid fears of a Russian invasion, Poroshenko introduced martial law on Tuesday for up 30 days in parts of the country deemed most vulnerable to a potential attack.

Martial law allows the president to impose restrictions, including limits on the movement of foreigners.

It also means Poroshenko can ban peaceful public protests and regulate the media. No elections can be held when it martial law is in place, but Poroshenko insists Ukrainians will be be able to vote as planned in March.

The seizure of Ukrainian ships on Sunday was the latest rift between the neighbors. Tensions were already high after the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the ongoing armed conflict between government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

When Russia and Ukraine were relatively friendly, they shared the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait as part of a 2003 agreement.

But Moscow's annexation of Crimea gave it control of not just one but both sides of the strait. Most countries in the world, including the U.S. and almost all of Europe, say Russia's annexation of Crimea is an illegal occupation.

Although the 2003 agreement still stands in theory, Russia now demands that all vessels, including those from Ukraine, to request permission before they pass through.

In May, it opened the $3.69 billion Crimea Bridge, cementing its grip on this crucial bottleneck. Independent observers have pointed out that the bridge's span is lower than international standards, putting a permanent cap on the size of ship able to enter the Azov.

The move has caused huge delays in recent months, leading to claims Russia is trying to blockade Ukraine's ports and transform the Azov into a de facto Russian lake.

Some Western critics say this is all part of the Kremlin's tactic of "creeping annexation," a ploy to subtly recoup Soviet-era territory.

Ukraine is demanding that Russia release crew members of the seized ships. On Friday, the Tass news agency reported that the commanders of the three Ukrainian vessels were being transferred to Moscow for interrogation. The other 21 remained in custody in Crimea.</s>Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speak to soldiers during a visit to a military base in Chernihiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Nov, 28, 2018. Russia and Ukraine traded blame after Russian border guards on Sunday opened fire on three Ukrainian navy vessels and eventually seized them and their crews. The incident put the two countries on war footing and raised international concern. (Mykola Lazarenko, Presidential Press Service via AP) (Mykola Lazarenko)</s>Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko on Friday barred Russian men of military age from entering the country, saying the order was needed to prevent an infiltration in what appeared to be an allusion to Moscow's 2014 takeover of Crimea from Ukraine.

Poroshenko's decree comes days after he assumed martial law powers in Ukraine following a maritime skirmish in the Kerch Strait that joins the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov through Crimea. That encounter saw Russian warships fire on and seize three Ukrainian navy vessels, wounding several of their crew.

"Today, the entry of foreigners is limited — primarily citizens of the Russian Federation — non-admission of citizens of the Russian Federation aged from 16 to 60, male," Petro Tsygyka, the Ukrainian head of the border service, said in a televised meeting Friday.

Poroshenko tweeted on Friday that the restriction was enacted to prevent the infiltration of "private armies."

In 2014, Russian soldiers in unmarked uniforms infiltrated Crimea, taking control of Ukrainian ships and military bases on the peninsula as Moscow insisted its forces were not involved.

The Kremlin has also backed an ongoing separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

On Monday, Poroshenko declared martial law in response to the latest naval incident, citing fears that Russia was planning further military action. It is set to continue until Dec. 26 in 10 regions bordering Russia.

At the time, The Associated Press noted, "Martial law will include a partial mobilization and strengthening of the country's air defense. The measures before parliament also included vaguely worded steps such as 'strengthening' anti-terrorism measures and 'information security."

A 2003 treaty between the two countries says the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov are shared territorial waters. Russia has attempted to exert greater control over the area since annexing Crimea — including opening a bridge linking Russia to the Ukrainian peninsula earlier this year.

"Ukraine's navy estimates it lost at least 80 percent of its assets and capabilities after the annexation of Crimea, as its most important bases were located on the peninsula," Kim reports. "Russia's seizure of the two gunboats on the weekend is a further blow."

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley called Russia's seizure of the vessels an "outrageous violation of sovereign Ukrainian territory."

On Thursday, President Trump cancelled a scheduled meeting with President Vladimir Putin at G-20, citing the intensifying Russian aggression toward Ukraine.</s>Ukraine has barred Russian male nationals between 16 and 60 from traveling to the country, President Petro Poroshenko announced on November 30.

The move comes amid escalation tensions between the two countries after Russian border guards opened fire and captured three Ukrainian naval vessels and their 24-member crew off on November 25 off Crimea, which Russia forcibly annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Poroshenko tweeted on November 30 that the restrictions on Russian travelers have been taken to prevent the Russians from forming "private armies" fighting on Ukrainian soil.

Russia has backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in a conflict that has killed more than 10,300 people since April 2014.

Meanwhile, a Russian government-appointed ombudswoman in Crimea said the captured Ukrainian naval personnel were being transferred to Moscow.

Russia says the Ukrainians had violated its border while Ukraine says its ships were acting in line with international maritime rules.

A Crimean court earlier this week ruled to keep the Ukrainian seamen behind bars for two months pending the investigation.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, Interfax, and TASS</s>Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, left, leads the National Security and Defence Council meeting in Kiev, Ukraine, Friday, Nov. 30, 2018. Ukraine's president says that the country has barred Russian men between 16 and 60 from traveling to the country. The move comes as the long-simmering conflict between the two nations escalated in the Black Sea on Sunday. President Petro Poroshenko has tweeted that the restrictions on Russian travelers have been taken in order to prevent the Russians from forming "private armies" fighting on Ukrainian soil. (Mykhailo Markiv, Presidential Press Service via AP, Pool) (Mykhailo Markiv)</s>An Orthodox priest blessed Russian missiles as part of a deployment ceremony for the country's anti-aircraft launchers yesterday, which were seen amassing close to the Ukrainian border yesterday.

Triumf surface-to-air missile systems - part of an anti-aircraft military unit of the Russian Air Force and the Russian Southern Military District - entered combat duty near the Crimean town of Dzhankoy, just 12 miles away from Ukraine on Thursday night.

It is common for Orthodox priests in Russia to bless military equipment before use; in January 2017 a bishop sanctified the S-400 Triumf medium and long-range surface-to-air missile system at the base of the Russian Southern Military District and in 2016 a similar event occured when the Sukhoi Su-30SM fighter aircraft joined the Russian Navy Baltic Fleet for the first time.

Last month, the Soyuz rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan was consecrated by a churchman in preparation for its space launch.

Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine's president, has this week warned that Russian tanks are lining up along the border and taken the step of banning all Russian men of military age from entering the country.

Poroshenko said he has evidence that Russian tanks are lining up just 11 miles (18km) from the border, close to where Russia stores its ammunition and multi-rocket launch systems, Sky News reports.

Poroshenko made the claim just hours after accusing President Vladimir Putin of wanting to annex his whole country.

'This is the tank base just 18km from our border, this was happening in September, October, and now,' Poroshenko told Sky.

'This is 18km from my border, this is the same warehouse where they have their ammunition, the same where they have multi-rocket launch systems, we should be prepared to protect my country.'

He added: 'If the whole world has no reason to trust Putin, Ukraine definitely doesn't have a reason to go with him.'

President Poroshenko also said the country has barred Russian men between 16 and 60 from travelling to the country.

The move comes as the long-simmering conflict between the two nations escalated in the Black Sea on Sunday when Russian border guards opened fire on and captured three Ukrainian vessels and their 24-member crew.

Poroshenko tweeted today that the restrictions on Russian travellers have been taken in order to prevent the Russians from forming 'private armies' fighting on Ukrainian soil.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Poroshenko's request is 'clearly aimed at provoking further tensions' and driven by the Ukrainian leader's 'electoral and domestic policy motives.'

Russia seized three Ukrainian navy ships and their crews on Sunday near the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, over what it said was their illegal entry into Russian waters - a charge Ukraine strongly refutes.

The Russian coast guard fired on and seized the three Ukrainian vessels that sought to pass from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov through the Kerch Strait.

Ukraine insisted that its vessels were operating in line with international maritime rules, while Russia said they had failed to get permission to pass.

The G7 foreign ministers' today released a statement on the recent events near Kerch Strait.

'We, the G7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union, express our utmost concern about Russia's actions against Ukraine in the Kerch Strait and surrounding waters, ‎which have dangerously raised tensions,' the statement said.

'There is no justification for Russia's use of military force against Ukrainian ships and naval personnel.

'We urge restraint, due respect for international law, and the prevention of any further escalation. We call on Russia to release the detained crew and vessels and refrain from impeding lawful passage through the Kerch Strait.

'We, the G7, once again reiterate that ‎we do not, and will never, recognize Russia's illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula, and we reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.‎'

In interviews with Germany's Bild newspaper and the Funke newspaper group on Thursday, Poroshenko rejected Russia's charge that the vessels' entry into the Sea of Azov - a body of water shared by Ukraine and Russia on which the Ukrainian ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk sit - was a provocation.

'Don't believe Putin's lies,' he told Bild, Germany's biggest-selling paper, comparing Russia's protestations of innocence in the affair to Moscow's 2014 denial that it had soldiers in Crimea even as they moved to annex it.

'Putin wants the old Russian empire back,' he said.

'Crimea, Donbass, the whole country. As Russian Tsar, as he sees himself, his empire can't function without Ukraine. He sees us as his colony.'

He added that there needs to be increased pressure on Moscow, including stopping the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is being built under the Baltic Sea and would bypass Ukraine to deliver gas directly to Germany.

Poroshenko said the government will impose unspecified restrictions on Russian citizens in response to the seizure of the three Ukrainian vessels and their crews.

He that the one-month period of martial law introduced this week in Ukraine wouldn't restrict travel, cash withdrawals or currency purchases by Ukrainians but Russians will face some constraints.

The Ukrainian leader tweeted Thursday that 'there will be restrictions regarding Russian citizens, which I believe are quite justified.' He did not elaborate.

The seizure of the navy vessels drove tensions to their highest since 2015, when Moscow-backed rebels rose against the Kiev government in the eastern Donbass region, sparking a war that has killed tens of thousands.

A Russian government-appointed ombudswoman said on Friday the three commanders of the Ukrainian vessels captured near the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula last weekend are being transferred to Moscow.

The Tass news agency on Friday quoted Russian government-appointed ombudswoman Lyudmila Lubina as saying that the vessels' commanders are being transferred to Moscow for interrogation. The other 21 remain in custody in Crimea.

A Crimea court earlier this week ruled to keep the Ukrainian seamen behind bars for two months pending the investigation.

Poroshenko called on Germany, the largest and wealthiest buyer of Moscow's gas exports, to halt the building of an undersea gas pipeline that would allow Russia to supply Germany directly, cutting out Ukraine.

'We need a strong, resolute and clear reaction to Russia's aggressive behaviour,' he told Funke. 'That also means stopping the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.'

Germany regards the pipeline, which is being built by Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom, as a private investment. But Merkel recently acknowledged its 'political dimensions' and said Ukraine must continue to be a conduit for Russian gas sold to western Europe.

German officials said on Wednesday that their position on the pipeline remained unchanged and that talk of tighter sanctions against Moscow, demanded by the United States and many European politicians, was 'premature'.

Poroshenko also called for the stationing of NATO vessels in the Sea of Azov.</s>KHARKIV, Ukraine -- Vladyslav Sobolevskyy isn't someone you'd expect to be hearing it from, but there it was.

"It’s a political manipulation," said the burly, battle-hardened veteran of a war that's been gnawing at Ukraine for more than four years, in a reference to this week's imposition of martial law across nearly half the country.

A former commander of one of Ukraine's most controversial volunteer battalions since fighting broke out in 2014, who keeps an ax adorned with a skull on his desk, Sobolevskyy spent three years fighting in a village that sits on the shore of the Sea of Azov.

Access to that strategic sea, long shared by Russia and Ukraine, was at the center of the naval clash on November 25 that prompted the call for martial law and rekindled fears of a broader conflict.

But three days later, Sobolevskyy was suggesting the current mobilization was an attempt by President Petro Poroshenko to boost his public standing four months ahead of a planned presidential election -- a charge similarly raised by Poroshenko’s critics in Kyiv and by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Sobolevskyy was helping to oversee the start of weapons training for around 50 civilians who were filing into the Azov National Militia's training center in Kharkiv on November 28 in response to a call for volunteers after the naval incident. The group of mostly young men practiced assembling Kalashnikov rifles.

"They want to be ready," Sobolevskyy said.

Ukraine’s second-largest city and home to an important tank factory, Kharkiv sits 420 kilometers north of the Sea of Azov.

But it abuts Russia's border to the north and was the scene of an armed effort by Russia-backed separatists in 2014 to seize control of the city before they were repelled by government forces.

If Russia unleashes a large-scale assault on Ukraine, "we will not have much time" to react, Sobolevskyy said. "We will be the first people who will go to the new war."

Outside the Azov training center on November 28, there were few obvious signs of martial law.

In Kharkiv itself, banks were open, cafes were buzzing, and the subway was running on schedule.

Many residents shrugged off talk of martial law or downplayed any immediate effect on their daily lives. Or, in some cases, they simply hadn't heard the news.

Dmytro Yuriev, a 79-year-old retired university worker and volunteer handing out pamphlets on the country's war effort from a tent on Kharkiv’s snow-covered Freedom Square, said he knew nothing of the new directive when RFE/RL informed him.

"How can that be?" he asked. "What does it mean?"

Local officials were unsure exactly what it might mean for the city, and they held meetings through most of the day on November 28 to discuss it.

Through a spokesperson, Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Kernes declined an interview because he was said to be unsure which aspects of martial law would go into effect. Regional military leaders, too, declined to meet with reporters because they said they were still parsing the language of the law.

Dmytro Bulakh, a Kharkiv regional council member and co-chairman of the board at Kharkiv Reform Coalition, speculated that it might not "affect the lives of ordinary people," who were already used to war on their doorstep.

Several hours into the new regime, he said, "I don’t think it will need to be imposed here."

But Kharkiv regional authorities had taken some precautionary measures, including checks of bomb shelters, schools, and gymnasiums, where people might gather in the event of an attack.

Not all aspects of martial law were formally invoked in the 10 regions directly affected, but in some, local officials with their own interpretations of the law were invoking it in seemingly creative ways.

In neighboring Sumy, the city council said it was mulling an initiative to restrict traffic in the city with checkpoints and to limit the sale of alcohol between 10 p.m. and 10 a.m.

In south-central Zaporizhzhya, the regional head urged political parties to "decrease their activity in the form of the holding of mass events."

In Kherson, which directly borders annexed Crimea to the north and has access to the Black and Azov seas, authorities stepped up security at the administrative border with the peninsula and began restricting the passage of Russians.

That security was tightened further on November 29 when the State Border Guard Service announced that only Ukrainian citizens would be allowed to enter Crimea from Ukrainian territory under government control. It did not clarify how long the measure would be in place.

At the Hoptivka border crossing 35 kilometers north of Kharkiv one day earlier, there was little traffic bound for Russia and even fewer vehicles entering Ukraine.

Oksana Ivanets, a State Border Guard Service spokeswoman for the Kharkiv region, told RFE/RL that the service had received orders to be on "full military readiness."

But faced with the threat of an incursion near Hoptivka for more than four years, border guards there have long been on heightened alert, and even erected a border fence and dug antitank trenches as a precaution.

Otherwise, not much had changed and officials were still awaiting further orders from Kyiv.

"This is a first for all of us," Ivanets said. "We’re still learning what it will mean for everyone."

In Hoptivka, nobody had been barred entrance to Ukraine and border guards had not witnessed any "provocations," she added.

Poroshenko argued that martial law was necessary in the face of the threat of "full-scale war" with Russia, which he claimed was massing tens of thousands of troops and military equipment along its border with Ukraine. That claim has not been independently verified.

And while there was much confusion about what exactly martial law meant for most Ukrainians, one thing was clear: Ukraine’s military had been put on "full combat alert."

"I will now be using the opportunities, which are given to me as the commander in chief by the law on martial law, to strengthen our armed forces," Poroshenko told a November 28 meeting of top officials in the Chernihiv region, one of those under martial law, according to his press department. "I will do everything I can to implement all the necessary decisions so that our army would be ready."

The same day, 900 kilometers to the south, Reuters reported seeing a Russian Navy ship, the Vice Admiral Zakharin minesweeper, moving toward the Sea of Azov from the Black Sea.

On November 29, Russian Black Sea Fleet spokesman Aleksei Rulev told the Interfax news agency that a fourth S-400 air-defense missile battalion had been put on combat duty in the Crimean city of Dzhankoi, near the border of mainland Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Poroshenko announced new measures banning Russian citizens from exchanging foreign currency or conducting bank withdrawals. He also said he supported further measures restricting Russians' travel to Ukraine.

"And I think it’s totally justified,” he added.</s>Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko on Friday barred Russian men of military age from entering the country, saying the order was needed to prevent an infiltration in what appeared to be an allusion to Moscow’s 2014 takeover of Crimea from Ukraine.

Poroshenko’s decree comes days after he assumed martial law powers in Ukraine following a maritime skirmish in the Kerch Strait that joins the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov through Crimea. That encounter saw Russian warships fire on and seize three Ukrainian navy vessels, wounding several of their crew.

“Today, the entry of foreigners is limited — primarily citizens of the Russian Federation — non-admission of citizens of the Russian Federation aged from 16 to 60, male,” Petro Tsygyka, the Ukrainian head of the border service, said in a televised meeting Friday.

Poroshenko tweeted on Friday that the restriction was enacted to prevent the infiltration of “private armies.”

In 2014, Russian soldiers in unmarked uniforms infiltrated Crimea, taking control of Ukrainian ships and military bases on the peninsula as Moscow insisted its forces were not involved.

The Kremlin has also backed an ongoing separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

On Monday, Poroshenko declared martial law in response to the latest naval incident, citing fears that Russia was planning further military action. It is set to continue until Dec. 26 in 10 regions bordering Russia.

At the time, The Associated Press noted, “Martial law will include a partial mobilization and strengthening of the country’s air defense. The measures before parliament also included vaguely worded steps such as ‘strengthening’ anti-terrorism measures and ‘information security.”

“Domestic opponents of the unpopular president accused him of planning to use martial law as a way to suspend an election scheduled for March 31. Poroshenko only got Ukraine’s boisterous parliament to approve the measure once he had watered down his proposal by reducing martial law — which entered into force Wednesday — to 30 days from 60, limiting it to border regions and promising not to postpone the election.”

A 2003 treaty between the two countries says the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov are shared territorial waters. Russia has attempted to exert greater control over the area since annexing Crimea — including opening a bridge linking Russia to the Ukrainian peninsula earlier this year.

“Ukraine’s navy estimates it lost at least 80 percent of its assets and capabilities after the annexation of Crimea, as its most important bases were located on the peninsula,” Kim reports. “Russia’s seizure of the two gunboats on the weekend is a further blow.”

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley called Russia’s seizure of the vessels an “outrageous violation of sovereign Ukrainian territory.”

On Thursday, President Trump cancelled a scheduled meeting with President Vladimir Putin at G-20, citing the intensifying Russian aggression toward Ukraine.</s>MOSCOW (AP) — The Latest on Russia-Ukraine tensions (all times local):

A Russian activist says she has visited Ukrainian seamen who have been transferred to a Moscow jail.

Russian border guards in the Black Sea near Crimea fired at three Ukrainian vessels on Sunday, seizing the ships and their crews. Russia says they have violated its border while Ukraine says the vessels were in compliance with international maritime law. Two dozen Ukrainian seamen have been ordered to stay in custody for the next two months.

Russian TV station Dozhd on Friday quoted Kogershyn Sagiyeva, a member of the Moscow oversight council which is allowed to inspect prisons, as saying that 21 seamen have been transferred to the Moscow Lefortovo jail while three other seamen are in a hospital in another jail. She said she met with some of the seamen and they appeared to be in good shape.

European Council President Donald Tusk says the EU is expected to extend sanctions on Russia over its "totally unacceptable" seizure of Ukrainian ships and their crews near Crimea.

Tusk said Friday that "Europe is united in its support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," calling the standoff "a cause of great concern."

Speaking on the sidelines of a G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, he urged the leaders meeting there to discuss points of tension including "Russian aggression in Ukraine."

He didn't elaborate on the sanctions or other measures the EU might take.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is among the leaders involved at the G-20. Russia and Ukraine have traded blame over the ship incident.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban says his country is supporting Ukraine in the latest escalation of tensions with Russia.

Speaking through a translator in Prague after meeting his Czech counterpart Andrej Babis on Friday, Orban says: "The Hungarian position is clear. We are a pro-Ukrainian government."

But he added that "The peculiarity of the situation is that there is a Ukraine-friendly government in Hungary, while in Ukraine there is an anti-Hungarian government."

Orban's statement comes amid a dispute between Ukraine and his country over the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine. But Orban said his support for Ukraine is not going to change.

Orban is considered to have one of the best relationships with Russian President Vladimir Putin's among European Union politicians.

Russia's foreign ministry says that Moscow is not going to mirror the travel ban that Ukraine has imposed on Russian men.

Ukrainian officials announced earlier on Friday that all Russian men aged between 16 and 60 will be barred from entering Ukraine for the 30-day duration of martial law. The statement is the latest step in the escalation of the long-simmering conflict between Russia and Ukraine which began in 2014 with Russia's annexation of Crimea.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that Russia is not planning to impose similar measures on Ukrainians. Zakharova blamed the Ukrainian government for implementing a policy that hurts ordinary people.

The Ukrainian intelligence agency is searching the home of the father superior of Kiev's biggest and oldest monastery which is part of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Ihor Guskov, chief of staff of the SBU intelligence agency, told reporters on Friday that its officers are searching the home of Father Pavlo, who leads the Pechersk Monastery in Kiev. He said the cleric is suspected of "inciting hatred."

The Ukrainian church, which has been part of the Russian Orthodox Church for centuries, moved close to forming an independent church — fueled by the conflict with Russia Ukraine's Orthodox communities earlier this year.

There are currently three Orthodox communities in Ukraine including two breakaway churches. Ukrainian authorities sought to portray the Russian Orthodox clerics in Ukraine as supporting separatists.

Tensions between Ukraine and Russia have escalated since last weekend, when Russian border guards opened fire on three Ukrainian naval vessels near Crimea and captured their crews.

Ukraine's president says that the country has barred Russian men between 16 and 60 from traveling to the country.

The move comes as the long-simmering conflict between the two nations escalated in the Black Sea on Sunday. Russian border guards opened fire on and captured three Ukrainian vessels and their 24-member crew.

President Petro Poroshenko tweeted Friday that the restrictions on Russian travelers have been taken in order to prevent the Russians from forming "private armies" fighting on Ukrainian soil.

A Russian government-appointed ombudswoman says the three commanders of the Ukrainian vessels captured near the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula last weekend are being transferred to Moscow.

The long-simmering conflict between Russia and Ukraine bubbled over Sunday when Russian border guards opened fired on three Ukrainian vessels in the Black Sea. The Russians then captured the 24-member crew.

Russia says the Ukrainians had violated its border while Ukraine says its ships were acting in line with international maritime rules.

The Tass news agency on Friday quoted Russian government-appointed ombudswoman Lyudmila Lubina as saying that the vessels' commanders are being transferred to Moscow for interrogation. The other 21 have also been transferred away from Crimea, but it wasn't immediately clear to where.

A Crimea court earlier this week ruled to keep the Ukrainian seamen behind bars for two months pending the investigation.
Ukraine bans Russian men aged between 16 and 60 from entering the country following the imposition of martial law. President Petro Poroshenko says the ban is to prevent the formation of "private armies" in Ukraine. Russia says it does not plan to retaliate.