Ukraine’s parliament has voted to allow the Maritime Border Guard to open fire without warning if the force’s vessels come under unprovoked attack while patrolling the country’s territorial waters.
The new rules of engagement were introduced as a provision of the bill on Ukraine’s contiguous maritime zone passed by parliament late on Dec. 6. The contiguous zone extends up to 24 nautical miles from Ukraine’s coast, and is a zone in which the country, by international law, can exert limited control in order to enforce its customs and other laws.
According to the document, Ukrainian vessels are now entitled to shoot on sight in order to:
- repel an armed assault, or to assist in defending other vessels of the Border Guard, or any other Ukrainian vessels, against an attack
- repel an invasion of Ukraine’s territory by armed military formations or criminal gangs
- quell armed resistance
- to halt armed conflicts and armed provocations
In general, the new law allows Ukrainian vessels to open fire without warning if they are themselves fired upon.
At the same time, the new rules of engagement state that Ukrainian forces are to fire warning shots if arresting vessels that violate the Ukrainian state border or the country’s tax, customs, migration, or health legislation, or if the violating vessels attempt to flee.
Besides, the document also states that Ukraine’s contiguous zone is to stretch up to 24 nautical miles from the country’s seacoast. Within this area, Ukraine shall execute its customs, fiscal, immigration and sanitary controls.
Ukraine’s territorial waters still stretch to up to 12 nautical miles off coast, as provided for under international maritime law.
The bill effectively doubles the zone under Ukraine’s security controls in the Black Sea; before that, the legislation envisaged the Ukrainian security activities only within its 12-mile zone of territorial waters. The new regulations reportedly does not affect the delimitation of the Azov Sea, which is deemed to be the internal waters of both Russia and Ukraine, in line with the 2003 treaty between the two.
The new bill on Ukraine’s extended zone of maritime control was passed just 10 days after the Nov. 25 armed attack by Russian forces against three Ukrainian navy vessels crossing the Black Sea near the Kerch Strait.
