Venezuela has asked the United Nations Security Council to determine that deadly U.S. strikes on vessels off its coast are illegal and issue a statement backing Venezuela's sovereignty, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Thursday, Reuters reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered a large U.S. military buildup in the southern Caribbean, and the troops have conducted at least five the Trump administration has described as involved in drug trafficking, without providing evidence.

In a letter to the 15-member Security Council, dated Wednesday, Venezuela's U.N. Ambassador Samuel Moncada accused Washington of killing at least 27 people in the strikes on "civilian vessels transiting international waters," according to Reuters.