The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Monday after Russia seized three Ukrainian navy ships off the coast of Crimea, the US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley wrote on Twitter.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), which oversees the country's border guard service, said it was forced to open fire on the ships on Sunday after they illegally entered Russian territorial waters.

"There is irrefutable evidence that Kiev prepared and orchestrated provocations," it said. "These materials will soon be made public."

Three Ukrainian sailors wounded in the clashes were in a stable condition and receiving medical care, it added.

Earlier in the day, Russia blocked access to the Sea of Azov from the Black Sea, accusing the same three Ukrainian vessels of entering its territorial waters without permission.

The two Ukrainian navy artillery boats and a tugboat were transiting from Odessa on the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Sea of Azov via the Kerch Strait, a narrow passage between Crimea and the Russian mainland.

The Ukrainian navy said a Russian coast guard vessel responded to their presence by ramming the tugboat, resulting in damage to the ship's engines and hull.

Ukraine's interior minister, Arsen Avakov, shared a video on Twitter purporting to show the moment the Russian ship rammed the tugboat.

Read more: Five years after Euromaidan, Ukraine's new reformers battle corruption

Ukraine said Russia's actions broke international law and vowed a "diplomatic legal response." The FSB, it insisted, had received advance notice about the ships' movements.

President Petro Poroshenko said on Monday that he would propose parliament declare martial law. This would restrict civil liberties and give state institutions greater power.

The European Union and NATO separately called for restraint on both sides and for Russia to restore freedom of passage via the Kerch strait.

Although a 2003 treaty designates the tow areas as shared territorial waters, Russia has been asserting greater control over the passage since 2015.

The latest dispute has raised concerns about a possible escalation of a wider conflict between the two neighbors.

Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 to widespread international condemnation. Since then, Ukraine has fought a civil war against pro-Russian separatists in the country's eastern regions.

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.</s>MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s coast guard opened fire on and seized three of Ukraine’s vessels Sunday, wounding two crew members, after a tense standoff in the Black Sea near the Crimean Peninsula, the Ukrainian navy said.

Russia blamed Ukraine for provoking the incident, which sharply escalated tensions that have been growing between the two countries since Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and it has worked steadily to bolster its zone of control around the peninsula.

Earlier in the day, Russia and Ukraine traded accusations over a separate incident involving the same vessels, prompting Moscow to block passage through the narrow Kerch Strait, which separates the peninsula from the Russian mainland.

The Ukrainian navy said two of its gunboats were struck and Russian crews boarded and seized them and an accompanying tugboat.

Russia’s Federal Security Service, known as the FSB and which oversees the coast guard, said there was “irrefutable evidence that Kiev prepared and orchestrated provocations … in the Black Sea. These materials will soon be made public.”

The FSB confirmed early Monday that it fired on the vessels to force them to stop, and then seized them.

The European Union and NATO called for restraint from both sides and for Moscow to restore access to the strait, which Ukraine uses to move ships to and from ports on either side of the peninsula.

Ukrainian authorities said they had given advance notice to the Russians that the vessels would be moving through the strait, which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov.

Russia said the three Ukrainian vessels made an unauthorized passage through Russian territorial waters, while Ukraine alleged that one of its boats was rammed by a Russian coast guard vessel.

The tugboat, which was rammed, was traveling with the two Ukrainian gunboats from Odessa on the Black Sea to Mariupol, an eastern Ukraine port, via the Kerch Strait.

“Russian coast guard vessels … carried out openly aggressive actions against Ukrainian navy ships,” the Ukrainian statement said, with the tugboat suffering damage to its engine, hull, side railing and a lifeboat.

The Kerch Strait is the only passage into the Sea of Azov. The strait is spanned by the recently completed Kerch Bridge, connecting Crimea to Russia. Transit under the bridge has been blocked by a tanker ship, and dozens of cargo ships awaiting passage are stuck.

Russia has not given any indication of how long it will block the strait, but a long-term closure to would amount to an economic blockade of Ukrainian cities on the Azov coast. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet greatly outmatches the Ukrainian navy.

Ukrainian ports on the Sea of Azov include strategically vital centers such as Mariupol, the closest government-controlled city to Donetsk and Luhansk, the breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia-backed separatists. Thousands of people in those regions have been killed in fighting between Ukrainian troops and the separatists since 2014.

The FSB told Russian news agencies after the first incident that the Ukrainian ships held their course and violated Russian territorial waters.

“Their goal is clear — to create a conflict situation in the region,” the FSB statement said. It did not mention that a Ukrainian tugboat was rammed.

Although a 2003 treaty designates the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov as shared territorial waters, Russia has been asserting greater control over the passage since 2015.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said earlier that Russia’s actions violated the U.N. Charter and international law, and pledged to “promptly inform our partners about Russia’s aggressive actions.”

“Such actions pose a threat to the security of all states in the Black Sea region,” the statement said, “and therefore require a clear response from the international community.”

Ukraine’s National Security Council said in a statement that it was meeting over the incident.

About 50-100 people gathered outside the Russian Embassy in Kiev to protest Moscow’s actions.

Dmitry Kiselyov, a commentator on Russian state-controlled TV, told viewers of his Sunday evening news program that Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, encouraged by the U.S., is looking to pick a fight with Russia in the Black Sea.

The talk show host also alleged the U.S. talked Poroshenko into staging a provocation against Russia as a means to disrupt an upcoming meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at this week’s Group of 20 summit in Argentina.

“What is happening now at the (Kerch) bridge threatens to turn into a very unpleasant story,” Kiselyov said.</s>Ukrainian policemen guard the Russian embassy building with smoke behind during Ukrainian activists rally in Kiev, Ukraine, 25 November 2018. Russia has seized three Ukrainian vessels amid their leaving the Kerch Strait; Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is gathering the Military Cabinet over the incident.

MOSCOW – Ukrainian lawmakers were set to consider a presidential request for the introduction of martial law in the country on Monday following an incident in which Russian coast guard ships fired on Ukrainian navy vessels.

An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council was also called for Monday. The European Union and NATO called for restraint from both sides.

The Ukrainian navy said six of its seamen were wounded when Russian coast guards opened fire on three Ukrainian ships near the Kerch Strait and then seized them late Sunday.

The two nations traded blame over the incident that further escalated tensions that have soared since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and backed a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine said its vessels were heading to the Sea of Azov in line with international maritime rules, while Russia charged that they had failed to obtain a permission to pass through the Kerch Strait separating Crimea from the Russian mainland.

More: Russia fires on Ukrainian vessels in Black Sea; 2 wounded

The narrow strait is the only passage between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. It’s spanned by a 19-kilometer (11.8-mile) bridge that Russia completed this year.

Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, chaired an emergency meeting of his Cabinet early Monday and asked parliament to introduce martial law in response to what he described as Russian aggression.

“We consider it as an act of aggression against our state and a very serious threat,” the president said. “Unfortunately, there are no ‘red lines’ for the Russian Federation.”

The Ukrainian military said that six of the 23 crew on board its three vessels were wounded. Russia’s Federal Security Service that is in charge of the coast guard said that three Ukrainian sailors were lightly injured and given medical assistance. It said the Ukrainian boats were towed to the nearby port of Kerch.

Russia closed the Kerch Strait for sea traffic Sunday by positioning a tanker under the bridge spanning it. It reopened the route early Monday.

The seizure of the Ukrainian ships followed a tense situation in which the three Ukrainian vessels were maneuvering near the Kerch Strait for hours shadowed by Russian coast guard boats.

The incident came after months of tensions and incidents in the Sea of Azov that involved inspections and seizures of ships.

While a 2003 treaty designates the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov as shared territorial waters, Russia has sought to assert greater control over the passage since the annexation of Crimea.

Yuras Karmanau in Minsk, Belarus, contributed to this report.</s>Russia has accused Ukraine of planning and staging a deliberate "provocation" for political purposes following a naval incident in the Kerch Strait that marked the first public acknowledgement by Moscow of its forces firing on Ukrainian troops since the onset of fighting in eastern Ukraine nearly five years ago.

Kyiv insists Russia is waging a "hybrid war" on Ukraine, and that the ramming, firing-on, and seizure of its vessels with their crews outside the Sea of Azov is just the latest attack in a long-running, separatism-fueled conflict with Moscow and its proxies.

The UN Security Council called a special session for later on November 26 to discuss the situation.

"We're dealing with a very dangerous provocation, and this of course demands special attention and a special investigation," Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on November 26. He said the Kremlin would refrain from further comment until the Russian Foreign Ministry made a detailed statement about the incident.

Kyiv regards the incident as evidence of continuing Russian aggression in a region where Moscow used to call the shots, and alleges that Russia continues to wage a hybrid war against its smaller neighbor.

Moscow counters that Ukraine's government is provoking conflict under orders from Washington.

"Literally the whole basis of the politics of Poroshenko and his regime is a provocation," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook, without citing any evidence.

Chalking the incident up to efforts by the Poroshenko administration to raise his approval rating and distract from domestic issues, Zakharova's statements echoed those of other Russian officials, including Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin.

Karasin claimed that the Sea of Azov had been specifically chosen for its strategic location -- where "provocative activities by Ukraine can bring rapid and required results for an international scandal."

"Unfortunately our worst fears have been confirmed," Karashin told RIA Novosti.

Russian state media have given generous coverage to the incident, devoting several live TV debates to the issue. "Maritime Aggression" was the title of a report on the prime-time Sunday evening show News of the Week, in which Russian state media boss and presenter Dmitry Kiselyov claimed the clash near the Kerch Strait was a Western-led provocation aimed at undermining a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Putin at the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Argentina on November 30.

"Ships of the Ukrainian Navy are still in our territorial waters, but they're adrift. They're waiting for something," Kiselyov said on the evening of November 25, as news of the event was still unfolding. "It's unwise to sink the trespassers, since that's clearly exactly what they want. All we can do is pray that the rusty old barges of the Ukrainian Navy don't sink themselves, as they'll pin that on Russia in any case."

Russia has bolstered naval forces into the area over the past year -- with an overmatched Ukraine trying to do the same -- and routinely detained Ukrainian vessels in waters that Kyiv still regards as its own or at least shared, according to a bilateral agreement from 2003.

In an interview with news channel Rossia 24, the Moscow-installed leader in Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, said the conflict is being provoked by "psychologically abnormal people" in Ukraine who have no concern for the fate of their citizens. "Crimea has returned to Russia forever," he said. "So there's nothing in the cards for them."

The United Nations gave overwhelming support to a 2014 resolution underscoring Ukraine's territorial integrity following Russia's seizure of Crimea and with Russia-backed separatists fighting for control of swaths of eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Russian officials have also publicly targeted international support for Ukraine's version of the November 25 events, calling out their counterparts in the European Union for risking further escalations with their statements of support for Kyiv.

After European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted that he condemned Russia's use of force in the Sea of Azov, Andrei Klimov, a member of Russia's Federation Council, issued a bitter rebuke and accused the EU of encouraging Ukraine's president to engage in "military adventurism."

"The EU does not understand the consequences of such decisions, that it encourages such actions by Poroshenko," Klimov told RIA Novosti. "This is the same as placing a machine gun and flame thrower in the hands of a psychopath and watching how he acts in a recreation park where people are taking walks."

Yet while the Russian narrative has zeroed in on the notion that Poroshenko is angling for approval ratings ahead of a planned vote in Ukraine in March, some commentators in Russia painted the incident as a ploy by Russia's president to improve his own political standing.

"Putin's approval rating this month is 66%, slowly going down to its lowest pre-Crimean level," Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center, wrote on Twitter, referring to a period before Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 boosted outward displays of patriotism and raised Putin's domestic ratings. "Why not to mobilize domestic audience, demonstrating military force in the sea?"

But if this was the Kremlin's tactic, at least some Russians appear convinced that it might have unintended consequences.

Vladimir Milov, a prominent member of the Russian opposition, argued that the Ukrainian Navy might have been trying to test Russia's resolve in preventing it from entering the Kerch Strait.

"If the goal was to scare the Ukrainians so that they 'stop trespassing,' then the way this was done they'll definitely 'trespass' again," Milov wrote on Facebook. "There'll be consequences for Putin, 100%, talk of a new round of sanctions will now get a fresh impulse."</s>MOSCOW — A dispute between Russia and Ukraine in the waters off the Crimean Peninsula has raised the prospect of a larger military confrontation between the two neighbors.

It follows 4½ years of bloodshed between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

A look at the conflict, its roots and possible outcomes:

When the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, parts of Ukraine were eager to escape the Russian leash and join with Western Europe and possibly NATO. But Russia’s ties with the industrial heartland of eastern Ukraine run deep, with many Russian speakers living there. In addition, most people who live in Crimea are Russian-speakers, and Moscow has a naval base there where its Black Sea fleet is headquartered.

In 2013, the Ukrainian government was due to sign a deal supposed to open European Union markets for Ukrainian goods and put the country on a pathway to possible EU membership. Russia, Ukraine’s closest neighbor and major trading partner, vehemently opposed the deal, fearing an uncontrolled flow of goods through what was then virtually an open border.

Then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych pledged to sign the deal — but walked out on it at the last moment. Mass protests followed in Kiev, decrying Yanukovych for what was seen as an attempt to deny Ukrainians a European future. A crackdown by riot police saw 130 people killed in sniper fire. Yanukovych fled to Russia.

Russia annexed the Crimea in 2014 after troops without insignia occupied crucial infrastructure, including Ukrainian military bases, while Ukrainian troops put up little resistance and retreated. It was only years later that Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly admitted that these were in fact Russian troops.

Activists in eastern Ukraine, backed by Russian operatives, took over towns and tore down Ukrainian flags. Separatist leaders in the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk held elections supporting a motion to break away from Ukraine.

Sporadic violence grew into a full-blown conflict in May 2014, when Ukraine launched an airstrike on the Donetsk airport that was overrun by Russian Chechen fighters. More than 10,000 people have been killed and over 1 million displaced, with large parts of the east still under separatist control. The Kremlin never admitted its role, portraying it as a civil conflict, but overwhelming evidence suggests Russia has been sending a sizeable number of troops and advisers as well as weapons to the rebels.

Ukraine signed peace accords with the separatists in 2015, calling for a cease-fire and political settlement in the east. While it helped to decrease the intensity of fighting, the accords did nothing to resolve the region’s political stalemate.

The latest area of rising tension occurred Sunday in the Kerch Strait, which links the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea off the eastern edge of the Crimean Peninsula. Russia has built a long bridge spanning the strait and connecting the peninsula with its mainland. In March, Ukraine detained a fishing vessel sailing from Crimea, and Russia increased its military presence in the area, inspecting all vessels sailing to or from Ukrainian ports, disrupting trade. Ukraine has protested, calling them an “economic blockade” affecting its ports in the industrial east.

Ukraine says two of its naval gunboats and a tugboat were fired on and seized by the Russian coast guard in the narrow strait. Russia says the Ukrainian vessels violated its territorial waters. Both sides blamed the other in the incident.

In another sign of Ukraine’s resolve to break with Russia, Kiev has stepped up efforts to seek independence for its Orthodox church. The church in Ukraine has been tied to the Moscow Patriarchate for hundreds of years, but calls for independence have increased since the conflict began.

The Istanbul-based patriarchate, whose head Bartholomew I is considered the “first among equals” of Orthodox church leaders, made the first step toward recognizing the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in October. The move was decried by the Russian Orthodox Church as well as the Kremlin.

The ship seizure has prompted global concern and raised questions about eventual international intervention. NATO and the U.N. Security Council discussed what to do.

Russia’s actions are drawing renewed Western anger — and demonstrating Putin’s resolve just days before he meets U.S. President Donald Trump at the Group of 20 summit in Argentina.

The European Union is calling on both sides to stay calm, but is distracted by negotiations on Britain’s pending departure and divided over migration, and may have little energy to deal with a new crisis involving Russia and Ukraine.

While Sunday’s incident raises the specter of a full-blown conflict between Ukraine and Russia, it is not likely that either wants an all-out-confrontation, and the leaders of both countries might be getting an outcome that they want.

Putin, whose approval ratings have tumbled recently, reinforced the message that Crimea is Russian for good and that he won’t allow anyone to question it.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is likely to benefit if parliament enacts his proposal of martial law. Poroshenko’s approval ratings have been plunging, and delaying the March presidential elections and playing up the Russian threat could help him get re-elected if the vote is put off for later.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>The Kerch bridge is seen blocked for ships entrance, near Kerch, Crimea, Sunday, Nov. 25, 2018. A Russian coast guard vessel rammed a Ukrainian navy tugboat near Crimea, damaging the ship's engines and hull, the Ukrainian navy said Sunday. (AP Photo)

The Kerch bridge is seen blocked for ships entrance, near Kerch, Crimea, Sunday, Nov. 25, 2018. A Russian coast guard vessel rammed a Ukrainian navy tugboat near Crimea, damaging the ship's engines and hull, the Ukrainian navy said Sunday. (AP Photo)

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s coast guard opened fire on and seized three of Ukraine’s vessels Sunday, wounding two crew members, after a tense standoff in the Black Sea near the Crimean Peninsula, the Ukrainian navy said.

Russia blamed Ukraine for provoking the incident, which sharply escalated tensions that have been growing between the two countries since Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and it has worked steadily to bolster its zone of control around the peninsula.

Earlier in the day, Russia and Ukraine traded accusations over a separate incident involving the same vessels, prompting Moscow to block passage through the narrow Kerch Strait, which separates the peninsula from the Russian mainland.

The Ukrainian navy said two of its gunboats were struck and Russian crews boarded and seized them and an accompanying tugboat.

Russia’s Federal Security Service, known as the FSB and which oversees the coast guard, said there was “irrefutable evidence that Kiev prepared and orchestrated provocations ... in the Black Sea. These materials will soon be made public.”

The FSB confirmed early Monday that it fired on the vessels to force them to stop, and then seized them.

An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council was called for Monday morning over the escalating situation, according to U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley. The European Union and NATO called for restraint from both sides and for Moscow to restore access to the strait, which Ukraine uses to move ships to and from ports on either side of the peninsula.

Ukrainian authorities said they had given advance notice to the Russians that the vessels would be moving through the strait, which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov.

Russia said the three Ukrainian vessels made an unauthorized passage through Russian territorial waters, while Ukraine alleged that one of its boats was rammed by a Russian coast guard vessel.

The tugboat, which was rammed, was traveling with the two Ukrainian gunboats from Odessa on the Black Sea to Mariupol, an eastern Ukraine port, via the Kerch Strait.

“Russian coast guard vessels ... carried out openly aggressive actions against Ukrainian navy ships,” the Ukrainian statement said, with the tugboat suffering damage to its engine, hull, side railing and a lifeboat.

The Kerch Strait is the only passage into the Sea of Azov. The strait is spanned by the recently completed Kerch Bridge, connecting Crimea to Russia. Transit under the bridge has been blocked by a tanker ship, and dozens of cargo ships awaiting passage are stuck.

Russia has not given any indication of how long it will block the strait, but a long-term closure to would amount to an economic blockade of Ukrainian cities on the Azov coast. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet greatly outmatches the Ukrainian navy.

Ukrainian ports on the Sea of Azov include strategically vital centers such as Mariupol, the closest government-controlled city to Donetsk and Luhansk, the breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia-backed separatists. Thousands of people in those regions have been killed in fighting between Ukrainian troops and the separatists since 2014.

The FSB told Russian news agencies after the first incident that the Ukrainian ships held their course and violated Russian territorial waters.

“Their goal is clear — to create a conflict situation in the region,” the FSB statement said. It did not mention that a Ukrainian tugboat was rammed.

Although a 2003 treaty designates the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov as shared territorial waters, Russia has been asserting greater control over the passage since 2015.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said earlier that Russia’s actions violated the U.N. Charter and international law, and pledged to “promptly inform our partners about Russia’s aggressive actions.”

“Such actions pose a threat to the security of all states in the Black Sea region,” the statement said, “and therefore require a clear response from the international community.”

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, after a meeting with his National Security Council, said in a statement he would ask parliament Monday to take up the issue of whether to implement martial law over the incident.

About 50-100 people gathered outside the Russian Embassy in Kiev to protest Moscow’s actions.

Dmitry Kiselyov, a commentator on Russian state-controlled TV, told viewers of his Sunday evening news program that Poroshenko, encouraged by the U.S., is looking to pick a fight with Russia in the Black Sea.

The talk show host also alleged the U.S. talked Poroshenko into staging a provocation against Russia as a means to disrupt an upcoming meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at this week’s Group of 20 summit in Argentina.

“What is happening now at the (Kerch) bridge threatens to turn into a very unpleasant story,” Kiselyov said.</s>MOSCOW, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Russia reopened the Kerch Strait near Crimea to shipping in the early hours of Monday morning after firing on and seizing three Ukrainian naval ships a day earlier, a move that triggered a dangerous new crisis between the two countries.

Russia's FSB security service said early on Monday its border patrol boats had seized two small Ukrainian armoured artillery vessels and a tug boat after opening fire on them and wounding several sailors, the most serious clash between Moscow and Kiev in years.

It had previously blocked the Kerch Strait near Russia-annexed Crimea to stop the ships from passing from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov, saying the small flotilla had not notified it of its plans in advance and ignored warnings to stop while manoeuvring dangerously.

With relations still raw after Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and its backing for a pro-Moscow insurgency in eastern Ukraine, the incident risks pushing the two countries towards a wider conflict and is likely to renew Western calls for more sanctions on Moscow.

The Russian rouble opened 0.4 percent weaker against the dollar in Moscow, its lowest since mid-November.

Kiev, which denied its ships had done anything wrong, accused Russia of military aggression and asked for the international community to mobilise to punish Russia.

The U.N. Security Council will meet on the latest developments at the request of Russia and Ukraine later on Monday, diplomats said.

The European Union said in a statement it expected Russia to restore freedom of passage via the Kerch Strait and urged both sides to act with the utmost restraint to de-escalate the situation. A NATO spokeswoman issued a similar appeal to both sides.

A Reuters witness said the three Ukrainian naval vessels seized by Russia were being held at the Crimean port of Kerch. People in naval-style uniforms could be seen around the vessels, which bore no sign of damage, the witness said.

The FSB has said Russia has opened a criminal case in connection with what it said was the ships' illegal entry into Russia's territorial waters.

The FSB said three Ukrainian sailors were wounded in the incident and were getting medical care. Their lives were not in danger, it said.

The Ukrainian parliament is due to consider a proposal to impose martial law for 60 days later on Monday after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko met his top military and security chiefs on Sunday night.

The move may be unpopular in some quarters in Ukraine since it would restrict civil liberties and give state institutions greater power ahead of a presidential election next year which polls indicate Poroshenko would lose. (Additional reporting by Tom Balmforth Editing by Christian Lowe)</s>MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) - Russia seized three Ukrainian naval ships off the coast of Russia-annexed Crimea on Sunday after opening fire on them and wounding several sailors, a move that risks igniting a dangerous new crisis between the two countries.

Russia’s FSB security service said early on Monday its border patrol boats had seized the Ukrainian naval vessels in the Black Sea and used weapons to force them to stop, Russian news agencies reported.

The FSB said it had been forced to act because the ships - two small Ukrainian armored artillery vessels and a tug boat - had illegally entered its territorial waters, attempted illegal actions, and ignored warnings to stop while maneuvering dangerously.

“Weapons were used with the aim of forcibly stopping the Ukrainian warships,” the FSB said in a statement circulated to Russian state media.

“As a result, all three Ukrainian naval vessels were seized in the Russian Federation’s territorial waters in the Black Sea.”

The FSB said three Ukrainian sailors were wounded in the incident and were getting medical care. Their lives were not in danger, it said.

With relations still raw after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its backing for a pro-Moscow insurgency in eastern Ukraine, the incident risks pushing the two countries toward a wider conflict.

Ukraine denied its ships had done anything wrong, accused Russia of military aggression, and asked for the international community to mobilize to punish Russia.

The U.N. Security Council will meet on the latest developments at the request of Russia and Ukraine, diplomats said.

POROSHENKO PROPOSES MARTIAL LAW

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko met his top military and security chiefs. Poroshenko said he would propose that parliament impose martial law.

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and then built a giant road bridge linking it to southern Russia that straddles the Kerch Strait - a narrow stretch of water that links the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov, which is home to two of Ukraine’s most important ports.

Russia’s control of Crimea, where its Black Sea Fleet is based, and of the bridge mean it is able to control shipping flows.

The crisis began on Sunday after Russia stopped the three Ukrainian ships from entering the Sea of Azov by placing a cargo ship beneath the bridge.

Seized Ukrainian ships, small armoured artillery ships and a tug boat, are seen anchored in a port of Kerch, Crimea November 26, 2018. REUTERS/Pavel Rebrov

A Reuters witness said Russia backed its blockade with at least two Sukhoi Su-25 warplanes that screeched overhead. Russian state TV said Russian combat helicopters had been deployed in the area.

The Ukrainian navy said on social media six Ukrainian sailors were wounded in the subsequent seizure of its ships, which appear to have been rammed and boarded, and that the Russian attack on them had occurred after they had retreated and headed back toward Odessa, the Black Sea port from where they had begun their journey.

“After leaving the 12-mile zone, the Russian Federation’s FSB (security service) opened fire at the flotilla belonging to ... the armed forces of Ukraine,” it said in a statement.

The European Union said in a statement it expected Russia to restore freedom of passage via the Kerch Strait and urged both sides to act with utmost restraint to de-escalate the situation. A NATO spokeswoman issued a similar appeal to both sides.

RISK OF WIDER CONFLICT

A bilateral treaty gives both Russia and Ukraine the right to use the Sea of Azov, which lies between them and is linked by the narrow Kerch Strait to the Black Sea. Tension has risen since Russia annexed Crimea, with both countries complaining about shipping delays and harassment.

Russia’s border guard service accused Ukraine earlier on Sunday of not informing it in advance of the three ships’ journey, something Kiev denied.

Russia said the Ukrainian ships had been maneuvering dangerously and ignoring its instructions with the aim of stirring up tensions.

Slideshow (19 Images)

Russian politicians denounced Kiev, saying the incident looked like a calculated bid by Poroshenko to increase his popularity ahead of an election next year.

In another sign of rising tensions, Russia’s state-controlled RIA news agency reported on Sunday night that Ukrainian forces had started heavy shelling of residential areas in eastern Ukraine, which is controlled by pro-Moscow separatists.

Reuters could not independently confirm that and the Interfax news agency cited separatists as denying there had been any unusual escalation.</s>MOSCOW – President Petro Poroshenko said Monday that he is introducing martial law across Ukraine for 30 days, starting Wednesday, triggering a sharp escalation with neighboring Russia.

Parliament still needs to ratify the proposal, though the bill is widely seen as sailing through.

The move comes one day after Russian ships fired at and seized Ukrainian vessels in the Black Sea. Several Ukrainian sailors were injured, and 24 were detained by Moscow for provoking the incident by the Kerch Strait, a narrow strip of water separating the Black and Azov Seas.

Poroshenko took to state television to say there was a “serious threat” of a land invasion by Russia. He cited Ukrainian intelligence reports as saying that Russian forces were forming just miles from the border with Ukraine.

Russia warned Ukraine of “serious consequences” if it continues what Moscow describes as stoking conflict. Moscow has closed off the Kerch Strait.

Under Ukrainian legislation, martial law allows for a slew of restrictions, from the media to individual movement.

The latest standoff comes after months of rising tensions between the two countries, who have been at loggerheads since a pro-Moscow government in Ukraine was toppled more than four years ago, touching off Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and the ongoing war in eastern Ukraine involving pro-Russian separatists.

The international community has condemned Russia’s maritime moves, with the European Union and NATO calling for restraint.
• Ex-Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos must report to prison Monday, judge orders
• Trump says he has turned in answers to Mueller questions “Once again, we see Russian contempt for international norms and Ukrainian sovereignty,” British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Twitter, calling for the release of the Ukrainian soldiers and a restoration of movement through the Kerch Strait.

An emergency session of the U.N. Security Council will be held Monday to discuss the crisis.</s>MOSCOW -- Ukraine's president demanded Monday that Russia immediately release Ukrainian sailors and ships seized in a standoff around Crimea that sharply escalated tensions between the two countries and drew international concern.

The two neighbours have been locked in a tense tug-of-war since Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, but the incident late Sunday in which Russian coast guard ships fired on Ukrainian navy vessels near the Kerch Strait directly pitted the two militaries, placing them on the verge of an open conflict.

The Ukrainian navy said six of its seamen were wounded when Russian coast guards opened fire on three Ukrainian ships near the Kerch Strait and then seized them. Russia said that three Ukrainian sailors were lightly injured and given medical assistance.

Ukraine's president, Petro Poroshenko, chaired an emergency meeting of his Cabinet early Monday and asked parliament to introduce martial law in response to what he described as Russian aggression.

"We consider it as an act of aggression against our state and a very serious threat," the president said. "Unfortunately, there are no 'red lines' for the Russian Federation."

Martial law could entail a variety of measures including closing the borders, imposing restrictions on foreigners entering the country, a ban on gun sales, a ban of any political gatherings and rallies and even closing down media outlets if they are deemed a threat to national security.

An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council was also called for Monday. The European Union and NATO called for restraint from both sides.

Poroshenko had a phone call Monday with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to discuss the situation. NATO later said that at Poroshenko's request its ambassadors and Ukraine's envoy will hold emergency talks in Brussels later Monday.

NATO said Stoltenberg expressed the U.S.-led military alliance's "full support for Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty, including its full navigational rights in its territorial waters under international law."

Poroshenko said at a meeting of Ukraine's national security council Monday that "we demand that (the ships and crews) are urgently turned over to the Ukrainian side" and called for a "de-escalation" of the crisis around Crimea.

Russia and Ukraine have traded blame over the incident that further escalated tensions that have soared since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and backed a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine said its vessels were heading to the Sea of Azov in line with international maritime rules, while Russia charged that they had failed to obtain permission to pass through the Kerch Strait separating Crimea from the Russian mainland.

The narrow strait is the only passage between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. It's spanned by a 19-kilometre (11.8-mile) bridge that Russia completed this year. While a 2003 treaty designates the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov as shared territorial waters, Russia has sought to assert greater control over the passage since the annexation of Crimea.

"There is no doubt that it was done by blessing or, perhaps, even a direct order from the top," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. "While planning that provocation, Ukraine had undoubtedly hoped to get additional benefits from the situation, expecting the U.S. and Europe to blindly take the provocateurs' side."

He urged the West to "calm down those in Ukraine who are trying to unleash a military hysteria to get political gains in connection with the planned elections" -- a reference to Ukraine's presidential vote in March.

A motion to introduce martial law requires a simple majority of votes in the 450-seat parliament, which Poroshenko's party controls. If martial law is introduced as proposed for 60 days, it will derail the presidential election campaign, which was expected to start on Dec. 30 with the vote in March.

Some lawmakers lashed out at Poroshenko's move as an attempt to influence the vote. Polls show Poroshenko trailing far behind arch-rival Yulia Tymoshenko.

"Martial law in Ukraine would present a wonderful chance to manipulate the presidential elections," said Oksana Syroid, a deputy speaker of parliament who is a member of the Samopomich faction.

She noted that martial law was not introduced in 2014 or 2015 despite large-scale fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists in the east.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that Poroshenko's initiative to introduce martial law "clearly smacks of electoral intrigues."

"We believe that it's wrong and dangerous to solve electoral tasks by waving a flag of war," he said.

Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters from far-right party National Corps waved flares at a protest in the snowy streets outside the Ukrainian parliament Monday. They brandished yellow-and-blue flags with the Ukrainian national symbol, the trident, and a huge white banner reading 'Don't back down!"

Yuras Karmanau in Minsk, Belarus, and Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report
Russia stops three Ukrainian Navy vessels from passing under the Kerch Strait Bridge by blocking it with a cargo ship. Russia claims they violated her territorial waters and ignored warnings. The navy vessels and their crews are seized after shots were fired. Russia says three Ukrainians were wounded. According to Ukraine, six of their sailors are wounded. Ukraine denies their ships did anything wrong.