Ukrainian seamen stand guard on the navy ship Slavutich at harbor of Sevastopol on March 3, 2014.
Photo: Andrew Lubimov/AP Photo

The government of Ukrainia is claiming that the Russian Navy has issued an ultimatum demanding the surrender of two Ukrainian Navy vessels in in Sevastopol’s harbor. They claim that four Russian Navy vessels have the Ukrainian anti-submarine ship, Ternopil,  and the the command ship, Slavutych, blocked in the harbor and are demanding their surrender.  The Russian government has strenuously denied that any ultimatum has been made.

The Ukrainian Rear Admiral Denis Berezovsky, only recently appointed as head of Ukraine’s Navy forces, has resigned and has sworn allegiance to the people of Crimea. Taking his oath, regional Prime Minister Sergey Aksyonov announced creating a Crimea Navy. The government of Ukrainian has charged Berezovsky with treason. Thus far, Ukrainian navy officers have rejected pleas for them to defect to the self-declared Crimean government at an extraordinary meeting at their headquarters in Sevastopol.

We recently posted that there were Russian reports that the Ukraine’s Navy flagship, the frigate Hetman Sahaidachny, had defected to Russia. The reports were never independently confirmed. The ship has been sighted off the coast of Crete. The Ukrainian government has denied that the ship ever defected.

Other Russian news sources have claimed that about ten Ukrainian Black Sea Fleet ships had left the naval base in Sevastopol, with several vessels now heading to Odessa.  This report was also unconfirmed and seems unlikely based on other reporting.