Trump confirms cancellation of meeting with President Putin because of Ukraine

"Based on what happened to the (Ukrainian) ships and sailors. That's the only reason," Trump told reporters Friday before meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Fox News reported.

Earlier, President Trump refused to hold bilateral discussions with Mr. Putin. Mr. Trump cited the incident in the Kerch Strait as the reason for such a move, and made the meeting conditional on the release of detained Ukrainian sailors. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov expressed regret over such a decision by President Trump.

On Sunday, three Ukrainian Navy ships — Berdyansk, Nikopol and Yana Kapu — violated the Russian border, entered the territorial waters of the Russian Federation and moved from the Black Sea to the Kerch Strait. They acted dangerously, not complying with the legitimate demands of the Russian side. The Ukrainian ship with 24 sailors on board was seized, three Ukrainian soldiers were injured. They were hospitalized and provided with medical care, there was no threat to the sailors' lives. After the incident, they were charged with illegally crossing the Russian state border.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the incident in the Kerch Strait a provocation, noting that among the Ukrainian crew members who violated the border of the Russian Federation, there were two Ukrainian security officers, who were actually leading this special operation. At the same time, Putin stressed that Russian border guards performed their duties to protect the state border. According to him, the provocation in the Black Sea is connected with the low popularity of the President of Ukraine ahead of the elections.

Watch Russian warships chase and attack Ukrainian ships

Russian border guard vessels chased the ships and rammed a Ukrainian tugboat trying to pass through the Kerch Strait, which separates Crimea from mainland Russia.