Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko has asked NATO for help, saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to annex his country. He has asked NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, to send warships to help the Ukraine. On Sunday, Russia seized three Ukrainian naval ships near Crimea, according to Reuters .
“Putin wants the old Russian empire back,” said Poroshenko. “Crimea, Donbass, the whole country. As Russian tsar, as he sees himself, his empire cannot function without Ukraine. He sees us as his colony.”
Ukraine is not a member of NATO, but NATO has publicly spoken out against Russia’s Sunday actions.
“Three NATO members — Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey — are littoral states with their own national capabilities deployed in the Black Sea region. So there is already a lot of NATO in the Black Sea, and we will continue to assess our presence in the region,” according to NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu.
Donald Trump canceled a planned meeting with Putin after the event. The pair were scheduled to speak at the upcoming G20 summit in Buenos Aires.
“Based on the fact that the ships and sailors have not been returned to Ukraine from Russia, I have decided it would be best for all parties concerned to cancel my previously scheduled meeting in Argentina with President Vladimir Putin,” Trump tweeted.
The Kremlin responded to Trump’s cancellation by saying this would give President Putin time for more “useful meetings.”
#Russian (in)justice in progress. #Ukrainian lawyers didn’t get access to UA sailors detained by RU&transfered from Crimea to (in)famous Lefortovo prison in Moscow. Under international pressure Russia must immediately release illegally detained sailors&captured vessels #AzovSea pic.twitter.com/ySl7hL3GB3
— Embassy of Ukraine to the UK (@UkrEmbLondon) November 29, 2018
President Poroshenko has temporarily imposed martial law on parts of the Ukraine. The Russia-Ukraine tensions will certainly be discussed at the upcoming summit.
Poroshenko said Thursday that Russian has amassed tanks along the Ukrainian border. He submitted images to the press to back up his claims, Sky News reports.
“This is the tank base just 18km from our border, this was happening in September, October and now,” he said.
“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.
“If the whole world has no reason to trust Putin, Ukraine definitely doesn’t have a reason to go with him,” Poroshenko said.
Russia has refused to release the Ukrainian citizens who were seized along with their ships on Sunday. Poroshenko says the sailors are “prisoners of war.”
Poroshenko says that the people of the U.K., Europe, the U.S., Australia, Japan, Canada, and “the whole civilized world” need to come together for global security, Express reports.