Ukraine President to ask Parliament to declare marshal law after Russians seize ships and block access to ports, NATO-Ukraine commission to meet in emergency

BBC:
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President Poroshenko described the Russian actions as "unprovoked and crazy", and said he would ask parliament on Monday to introduce martial law. He has now signed the decree requesting parliament to do so.

However, he stressed that this did not mean a "declaration of war... Ukraine does not plan to fight anyone".

The Ukrainian defence ministry announced that orders had been given to put the military on full combat alert.

Martial law could give the government the power to restrict public demonstrations, regulate the media, suspend elections, and oblige citizens to carry out "socially necessary" tasks such as working at a defence facility, local media report.

Ukraine's parliament will discuss the proposal at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT).
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Nato's Secretary General spoke by phone with President Poroshenko, expressing his support for Ukraine's territorial integrity. The Nato-Ukraine commission will hold an extraordinary meeting on Monday afternoon.

The EU said: "We expect Russia to restore freedom of passage at the Kerch strait and urge all to act with utmost restraint to de-escalate the situation immediately."

It added that Russia's construction of the Kerch Bridge was a "violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity."
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The UN will hold an emergency meeting today to discuss the matter.  Russia has been inspecting Ukraine shipping out of what it describes as the fear that someone might try to blow up the bridge it built to connect it to Crimea which it illegally annexed during the Obama administration.  It has not explained why it blocked the passage to the Sea of Azov which is critical to Ukraine's export market.

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