In September 2018, Ukraine announced the intention to add navy ships and further ground forces along the coast of the Sea of Azov, with the ships based at Berdyansk. The military posturing has been exacerbated since the construction of the Crimean Bridge, which is too low to allow passage of Panamax ships into Ukraine’s port. Late that September, two Ukrainian vessels departed from the Black Sea port Odessa, passed under the Crimean Bridge, and arrived in Mariupol. Tensions increased further after the Kerch Strait incident in November 2018, when Russia seized three Ukrainian Navy vessels attempting to enter the Sea of Azov.