Kerch Strait, 25 November 2018: 24 sailors taken at sea

On 25 November 2018 two Ukrainian navy artillery boats, the Berdiansk and the Nikopol, and the tug Yany Kapu sailed from Odesa for the Sea of Azov. Russian Coast Guard vessels blocked them at the Kerch Strait, held them for about eight hours, then chased them when they turned back, fired warning and then targeted shots, and seized all three with 24 servicemen aboard. Three were wounded. The UN's law-of-the-sea tribunal ordered their immediate release by 19 votes to 1. Russia freed the crews 286 days after the seizure, in a prisoner exchange; an arbitration on the detention is still pending.

Order to release the three vessels and 24 servicemen immediately (ITLOS, 19–1); arbitral jurisdiction over the detention and compliance (2022); GA resolutions 73/194 and 74/17 — established Obstruction of traffic through the Kerch Strait and militarisation of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, 2018 to date — pattern Seizure of warships of a state with a treaty right of passage; unlawful detention of servicemen with immunity — hub inference, position

Russia said. Vladimir Putin · VTB Capital 'Russia Calling!' forum, Moscow · 28 Nov 2018: “[They] entered our territorial waters.” — False. Under the 2003 agreement, warships of Ukraine and Russia enjoy freedom of navigation in the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait (art. 2(1)). The General Assembly treats Crimea as temporarily occupied Ukrainian territory (GA/12108, 17 Dec 2018). ITLOS ordered the vessels released (19–1).

Evidence held: ITLOS, Order of 25 May 2019 (19–1); UN General Assembly; Ukrainian Navy, 18 Nov 2019; President of Ukraine, 21 Nov 2019, at Ochakiv.