KYIV, Sept. 25 - The U.S. Coast Guard will transfer two former 110-foot Coast Guard ships to Ukraine as the country is seeking to strengthen its naval forces amid escalating tensions with Russia.

The transfer ceremony will take place in Baltimore and will be attended by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Coast Guard Vice Adm. Michael McAllister, CNN reported.

The transfer of the two armed Coast Guard cutters come as tensions between Ukraine and Russia in the Sea of Azov have increased in recent weeks, with Kyiv and the US accusing Moscow of interfering with Ukrainian shipping in the region.

"The United States condemns Russia's harassment of international shipping in the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement last month.

"Russia has delayed hundreds of commercial vessels since April and in recent weeks has stopped at least 16 commercial ships attempting to reach Ukrainian ports," she added.

A U.S. defense official told CNN that the cutters Drummond and Cushin were purchased by Ukraine from the Pentagon's Excess Defense Articles program.

The Island-class cutters are typically armed with a 25 mm machine gun mount and four .50-caliber machine guns.

Russia has a much stronger naval force than Ukraine, but robust U.S. support for Kyiv could alter the situation in the area, according to Stratfor, a private U.S. strategic forecasting firm.

The Ukrainian navy possesses 66 combat and auxiliary naval units, as well as about 11,000 service members. In contrast, Russia's Black Sea Fleet, which is headquartered in Sevastopol, boasts more than 2,800 vessels and 25,000 service members.

“The disparity is not just in quantity but in quality as well: On average, Ukraine's vessels are much smaller and weaker than those of their Russian adversaries,” Stratfor said.

The Sea of Azov is of critical importance to Ukraine's economy — perhaps even more so since Kyiv lost Crimea, because 80 percent of the country's exports now pass through the body of water.

In recent months, Russia has been interrupting even more freighter traffic from Ukraine, stopping as many as 148 ships sailing to Ukrainian ports between May and mid-July, according to Ukraine's infrastructure minister, Volodymyr Omelyan.

Russia's actions are costing Ukraine $20 million to 40 million every year, and although they have not yet led to supply shortages, the costs could pile up in the future, according to Stratfor. (tl/ez)