Ukraine and several countries including the United States on Monday (June 28) launched joint military exercises in the Black Sea, a region of strong tensions with Moscow and the scene last week of a clash with a British ship.
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These naval maneuvers called Sea Breeze 2021 are to be held until July 10 and will involve some 5,000 soldiers and 30 ships from around 30 countries, including several NATO members.
The United States must deploy their destroyer USS Ross on this occasion.
For Kiev, these exercises aim to "
send a powerful message in favor of maintaining stability and peace in the region
", according to the commander of the Ukrainian fleet, Oleksiï Neïjpapa, who was speaking at the launching ceremony in Odessa, port in the south of the country.
Ukraine has been at daggers drawn with Russia since pro-Westerners came to power in Kiev in 2014, followed by Moscow's annexation of the Crimean peninsula and a war in the east with pro-Russian separatists .
The Black Sea has since been the scene of several skirmishes and armed incidents, the most recent involving the British destroyer HMS Defender.
Moscow claimed to have fired warning shots against the ship on June 23, accusing it of having violated its territorial waters off the annexed Crimea.
London, which has denied having been the subject of Russian fire, claims for its part that its ship was making "
an innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters
".
Read also: Clash in the Black Sea between Russian forces and a British destroyer
In 2018, Russia seized three Ukrainian warships and captured 24 sailors trying to enter the Sea of Azov, shared between the two countries.
It was the first direct armed incident between the two countries.
