What ending martial law meant for Ukraine in December 2018
A look back at the lifting of martial law, a month after the Kerch Strait incident involving three Ukrainian Navy vessels.
What did it mean for martial law to end in Ukraine? On 27 December 2018, the country was a day past that moment: as reported on 26 December 2018, martial law had ended a month after an attack on three Ukrainian Navy vessels near the Kerch Strait.
The incident that prompted the measure took place on 25 November 2018. Russian Federal Security Service coast guard forces fired upon and captured the three Ukrainian Navy vessels after they attempted to transit from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov through the strait, on their way to the port of Mariupol. It was the first time that Russian forces had openly engaged Ukrainian forces during the Russo-Ukrainian War.
The lifting of martial law, a month after the episode, closed a short chapter in the country's public life. The measure had been in place only for the weeks that followed the attack, and its end was reported on 26 December 2018.
Looking back, the date marks the point at which the legal emergency regime tied to the Kerch Strait incident had come to an end, even as the incident itself remained a defining episode of the confrontation at sea.
