President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky said that his team is doing everything to return to their homeland Ukrainian sailors arrested in Russia on charges of violating the state border.

“We are working day and night to bring captured sailors home. And I’m doing everything so that words about returning finally turn into tight hugs with our guys,” the president wrote on Twitter.

At the end of June, Zelensky appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to release the Ukrainian sailors. “We all have children, return the children to their parents,” he said.

Last November, Russian border guards detained two Ukrainian artillery boats and a longboat in the Kerch Strait that had crossed the Russian border; their crews (24 people) were arrested. According to Moscow, the ships crossed the border illegally. Kyiv claims that the ships requested permission to pass under the Crimean Bridge in accordance with the established procedure, but did not receive a response from Russian border guards.

Putin called this incident a pre-prepared provocation, which was needed by former President Petro Poroshenko on the eve of the elections. Ukraine calls the incident aggression.

Sergey Malgavko / TASS Three ships of the Ukrainian Navy, detained in territorial waters... Alexey Malgavko / RIA Novosti The ships have no visible damage, a Reuters source said. According to him... Sergey Malgavko / TASS Three Ukrainian ships were detained on Sunday, November 25, by Russian... Press service of the Russian FSB in Crimea / TASS According to the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia, Ukrainian ships... Pavel Rebrov / REUTERS Around noon on Sunday, the passage of ships through the Kerch Strait was closed -... Pavel Rebrov / REUTERS During Sunday, the fate of the Ukrainian boats and tug was unclear. Evening... Pavel Rebrov / REUTERS A criminal case has been opened regarding violation of the state border of Russia...

Zelensky announced round-the-clock work to return Ukrainian sailors