Ukraine will not renounce its 2003 treaty with Russia on shared use of the Azov Sea, even though the Kremlin has been abusing the agreement since launching its war on Ukraine in 2014, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Olena Zerkal said on Aug. 27.

Russian coast guards have been blocking Ukrainian and foreign merchant ships from sailing to Ukrainian ports on the Azov Sea since May, when Russia illegally opened a bridge between Russia and Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.