The legal regime of martial law in ten regions of Ukraine ends on Wednesday, December 26.
Petro Poroshenko, the president of Ukraine imposed the martial law in ten regions across the country on November 26. On the same day, the Ukrainian Parliament passed the law that enacts the president's decree. Thus, the martial law lasted for 30 days.
The reason to impose the martial law was the crisis in the Kerch Strait, in the Sea of Azov. The Russian Navy attacked the Ukrainian vessels, damaged them and captured the crews, 24 Ukrainian sailors. Currently, the captured men are at remand centers in Moscow.
According to the respective acts, the martial law was imposed in Vinnytsia, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Odesa, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Kherson, Donetsk and Zaporizhya region, as well as in the domestic waters of the Sea of Azov.
In case of necessity, the martial law foresees certain limitations of rights and freedoms of citizens; however, the President promised that these measures would only take place if the situation escalated. Later, Poroshenko said the legal regime of the martial law would not be extended, if no full-scale Russian invasion took place.
As we reported earlier, the Russian Navy attacked the Ukrainian vessels in the Kerch Strait in the Sea of Azov. The vessels were damaged, and the crews captured by the Russian special services. Ukraine and the Western governments consider the attack an act of aggression.
The Ukrainian sailors were taken to a remand center in Crimea, and then in Moscow, charged with the 'illegal crossing of the Russian territorial waters'. All sailors deny their guilt, claiming they are prisoners of war.
