MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/. The Defense Ministry of Ukraine admitted in a Facebook post on Saturday it no longer had access to the Sea of Azov.

According to the statement, Ukraine "has been temporarily deprived of access to the Sea of Azov."

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said back on March 1 the Ukrainian army’s access to the Sea of Azov had been blocked as advancing units of the Donetsk People’s Militia had reached the administrative border of the Donetsk Region to join the Russian forces that earlier established control of Ukraine’s districts on the Sea of Azov.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.