Oleksandr Turchynov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said another mission is necessary to prevent Russia from claiming control over the body of water.
Earlier in the day, Russia and Ukraine traded accusations over a separate incident involving the same vessels, prompting Moscow to block passage through the narrow Kerch Strait, which separates the peninsula from the Russian mainland.
The incident took place Sunday as two Ukrainian navy artillery boats and a tugboat were transiting from Odessa on the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Sea of Azov, via the Kerch Strait, a narrow passage between Crimea and the Russian mainland.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/M4JYBU2JFRFK5NZ7J4KC7ITL3E.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/LSIOTHELONBI3AOUFHES4MPV24.jpg)