Nikopol, Berdiansk and the Yany Kapu tugboat are heading for the mainland of Ukraine. This is reported by the press center of the Command of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook.
"The process of returning the Ukrainian boats Nikopol, Berdiansk and the Yany Kapu tugboat has begun in the Black Sea today, November 18. Now the Ukrainian tugboats Tytan, Haydamaky and the Sapfir search and rescue vessel started moving towards mainland Ukraine along with the boats and the tugboat", - the report said.
The transfer of those captured in the Kerch Strait to Ukraine was earlier announced at the Russian MFA.
The UN International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea issued an order on May 25, 2019 on the application of interim measures, which established the obligation of Russia to immediately return the Nikopol and Berdiansk small armored artillery boats and the Yany Kapu tugboat to Ukraine. Earlier, special forces of the Russian FSB detained them with the use of weapons, having arrested the crews, while they were trying to make the passage through the Kerch Strait from the Ukrainian port of Odessa to the Ukrainian port of Berdiansk.