On November 29, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, said that as far as he knew, traffic through the Kerch Strait is running as normal after the November 25 skirmish between Ukrainian naval vessels and the Russian coast guard. Ukrainian authorities reported on November 29 that over the period of November 25-27, a number of ships bound for Ukrainian ports on the Sea of Azov were held up on the Black Sea side of the strait.
Also on November 29, Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan said that the Ukrainian ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk were “effectively under blockade,” and that ships were not allowed to leave or arrive at these ports.
Polygraph.info reached out to Omelyan for comment on November 30.
“Yes, economic blockade of Azov Sea by Moscow is still present,” the minister wrote. “Kerch Strait is closed.”
Omelyan noted that Russian shipping is unaffected. Automatic Identification System (AIS) data appears to corroborate this, with the vast majority of ships in and around the Kerch Strait being bound for Russian ports.