Ukrainian and U.S. ships have started the Sea Breeze 2014 drills near Crimea in the Black Sea today within the framework of the Partnership for Peace Program and the bilateral cooperation program passed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on March 25. They will focus on crisis control, control over civilian ships, searches for violators and rescue operations.
Five ships and auxiliary vessels, two ships of the border guards, planes and helicopters are taking part in the drills. The NATO ships taking part are Ross (U.S.), Toronto (Canada), Almirante Juan de Borbon (Spain), and two ships of Turkey and Romania. France’s Commandant Birot ship, with officials from Georgia, Norway and Sweden on board, will monitor the drills.
Mikhail Khodarenok, the editor-in-chief of the Voyenno-Promyshlenny Kuryer paper and the Vozdushno-Kosmicheskaya Oborona magazine, expressed confidence that the drills were not a threat to Russia, because the Ukrainian fleet was extremely weak. The expert believes that it was a goodwill gesture of the U.S. and a signal of readiness to render assistance.
The Rapid Trident 2014 drills will also be organized at the Yavorivsky Training Center in the Lviv Oblast on September 15.
Ukrainian and U.S. ships have started the Sea Breeze 2014 drills near Crimea in the Black Sea today within the framework of the Partnership for Peace Program and the bilateral cooperation program passed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on March 25. They will focus on crisis control, control over civil ships, searches for violators, rescue operations.Five ships and auxiliary vessels, two ships of border guards, planes and helicopters take part in the drills. The NATO ships taking part are Ross (U.S.), Toronto (Canada), Almirante Juan de Borbon (Spain), two ships of Turkey and Romania. France’s Commandant Birot ship with officials from Georgia, Norway and Sweden on board will monitor the drills.Mikhail Khodarenok, the editor-in-chief of the Voyenno-Promyshlenny Kuryer paper and the Vozdushno-Kosmicheskaya Oborona magazine, expressed confidence that the drills were not a threat for Russia because the Ukrainian fleet was extremely weak. The expert believes that it was a goodwill gesture of the U.S. and a signal of readiness to give assistance.The Rapid Trident 2014 drills will also be organized at the Yavorivsky Training Center in the Lviv Oblast on September
