Russia has partially unblocked Ukraine's ports on the Azov Sea, allowing ship traffic through the Kerch Strait that connects the Black Sea and the Avoz Sea, Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan said Tuesday.
In a statement posted on the ministry's website, available now only in Ukrainian, Volodymyr Omelyan said ships can now proceed through the Kerch Strait towards the Ukrainian ports, Ukrainian English-language newspaper Kyiv Post reported.
He added that ships were stopped to be inspected by the Russian side but navigation has resumed to some degree.
Omelyan was also quoted as saying he hopes that the Ukrainian ports will be fully unblocked in the coming days.
The Russian side has not yet confirmed the news.
The Azov Sea port of Berdyansk, December 2, 2018. /VCG Photo
On November 25, Russia and Ukraine vessels engaged in a confrontation around the Kerch Strait. Russian naval vessels accused the Ukraine ships of illegally crossing Russia's border and seized the Ukraine ships and crew members.
Three days after the incident, Minister Omelyan in a Facebook post alleged that Russia blocked the Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov and that only movement towards the Russian ports in the Sea of Azov was being allowed.
Russia did not respond to Omelyan's allegation. A Crimean maritime authority source told Russian state news agency TASS: "No one is blocking any ships; traffic depends on actual weather conditions."
On Tuesday, when asked the whereabouts of detained Ukrainian ships, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to Russian state news agency RASS reports, said he was not aware of the whereabouts of the ships and suggested the question to be directed to investigation authorities looking into the incident.