OREANDA-NEWS. Ukraine won't refuse to participate in the UN international tribunal against the Russian Federation, despite the earlier release of 24 Ukrainian sailors, as well as the upcoming transfer to Kiev of three vessels detained by Russia in 2018 during the incident in the Kerch Strait. This was reported by Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Elena Zerkal on Facebook.

“While the ships Nikopol, Berdyansk and Yana Kapu are heading home to Odessa, the Foreign Ministry team is heading to The Hague, where the first hearing of the arbitration tribunal in the case of the violation of the immunity of three Ukrainian naval courts and 24 members their crews", she said, recalling that this is an international trial of Ukraine against the Russian Federation under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Zerkal said that Ukraine intends to "go this route and prove to the whole world and the arbitral tribunal" that the passage of Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait was "peaceful and legal", and that the actions of the Russian Federation were supposedly "a violation of international law".