REUTERS

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in an interview with Fox News has openly addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin and called and act of "war" the attack of the Russian military on Ukrainian sailors in the Kerch Strait.

"Mr. Putin, this is the act of aggression. Mr. Putin, this is the war. And this is not a joke, and not an incident, and not a crisis," Poroshenko said, explaining that this is because Russia's regular forces under the Russian flag attacked Ukrainian military vessels in international waters.

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"The reaction of the world was quite strong," Poroshenko went on to say, adding that more than words are needed to stop Putin.

"It's absolutely necessary for us to act," he said.

As UNIAN reported, three Ukrainian vessels were captured on November 25 by Russian forces at sea near the Kerch Strait, which is the only outlet to the Sea of Azov and controls access to two major Ukrainian ports. The two Ukrainian artillery boats and a tugboat were heading from Odesa on the Black Sea to Mariupol on the Sea of Azov. Twenty-four sailors were detained and "courts" in Russian-occupied Crimea ruled that they be detained for two months, pending trial.