Tomás Ó Flatharta

Two Ukrainian activists, Andrii Movchan and Nina Potarska, have been arrested by the armed forces of the genocidal Israeli state.

Israeli Navy’s criminal attack on Gaza flotilla: Ukrainian team among detained crews. Release them all now!

April 30, 2026

The European Network for Solidarity with Ukraine (ENSU) has learned that the vessel carrying the Ukrainian team as part of the Sumud Global Flotilla 2026 was one of those illegally seized by the Israeli Navy early this morning.

According to an Al Jazeera report seven out of the 58 vessels were captured by Israel near Crete, over a thousand kilometres from the coast of Gaza.

ENSU coordinator Szymon Martys described the raid as “a blatant and cynical attack on unarmed vessels navigating peacefully in international waters”. He demanded the immediate release of the detained crews, which include the Ukrainian team of Nina Potarska and Andrii Movchan.

Martys said that ENSU, which is supporting the two Ukrainian peace and human rights activists, had no information as to their situation, but assumed that they, along with other crews, were being held illegally on an Israeli navy vessel.

“They must all be freed immediately”, he added, and called on the Ukrainian government, along with the governments of all the kidnapped crews, to demand their immediate release.

Martys commented that the Israeli’s government’s action–attacking the flotilla when it was far from Gaza and before public attention on its mission would be at a peak–betrayed its fear of the power of international solidarity with the Palestinian people.

“We in the Ukraine solidarity movement understand this truth”, he added. “Powerful governments, like Netanyahu’s and Putin’s, although armed to the teeth, can be brought low by the mass mobilisation of all who stand for the rights of peoples. The Sumud Global Flotilla is symbol of popular indignation at the murderous violence of war and of people’s determination to stand with the oppressed.”

The Ukrainian team had joined the Sumud Global Flotilla to help the humanitarian effort for the blockaded people of Gaza, towards whom they, as members of a nation also victim of brutal invasion, feel a special duty of solidarity.

I invite you to read my new English translation for Спільне / Commons: “Breaking the Gaza Blockade: Ukrainians on the Sumud Flotilla.”

It is a thought-provoking interview with Ukrainian activists Andrii Movchan and Nina Potarska about Gaza, Ukraine, occupation, human rights, and solidarity.