Kyiv says an explosion which has sunk a small boat belonging to the Ukrainian Coast Guard was caused by “a rebel homemade bomb.”
The Ukrainian military said on June 8 that the border guards on the boat spotted the device floating in the water off the eastern port city of Mariupol on June 7, and it exploded as they attempted to pull it on board.
The blast killed one coast guard officer and wounded five others. Another crew member remains unaccounted for.
Mariupol is a flashpoint city in the conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels.
Lying on the coast of the Sea of Azov, Mariupol sits along a key route linking parts of eastern Ukraine controlled by the rebels and Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in March 2014.
