Amid tensions surrounding the British destroyer off the annexed Crimean Peninsula, the Ukraine and the US have launched Black Sea drills with dozens of warships. How will Moscow react to the largest maneuvers in decades?
The USS Ross guided missile destroyer (left) is taking part in the Sea Breeze maritime exerciseImage: Konstantin Sazonchik/Tass/picture alliance
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A military incident off the coast of the Crimean Peninsula caused quite a stir last week. The British warship HMS Defender was en route from the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa to Georgia when it encountered Russian forces, who issued warning shots.
The incident sparked tensions between Moscow and London and came just days ahead of multinational naval maneuvers led by Ukraine and the United States in the Black Sea, known as Sea Breeze.
Largest maneuvers in decades
A total of 32 ships, 40 aircraft and helicopters and 5,000 soldiers from 24 countries are taking part in the exercises, which last through July 10. Participating countries include the US, the United Kingdom, France, Turkey, Israel, Morocco, Japan, South Korea and Australia. Germany, which has been involved in the past, is not taking part this year. It's the largest maneuvers in decades, after last year's drills were shortened due to the pandemic.
Various exercises are planned at sea, on land and in the air with the goal of bringing Ukraine up to NATO standards. Officials also want to achieve better multinational cooperation in regional "peacekeeping," according to spokesperson for Ukraine's Defense Ministry.
On closer inspection, the forces involved in the drills are anything but massive. A majority of the ships, 24 of them, are Ukrainian and only a couple of them are warships. And only a few Western NATO warships will be involved in the exercises, like the US destroyer Ross which is armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
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What is Sea Breeze?
Sea Breeze is Ukraine's oldest, largest and best-known multinational military exercise since it gained independence from the Soviet Union some 30 years ago.
The exercises on the northwestern Black Sea coast are an annual event led by Ukraine and the US and is based upon a 1993 memorandum on military cooperation between the two countries. The first maneuver in the Black Sea took place in 1997. Two years prior, Russia and Ukraine settled their long-standing dispute over the division of the Black Sea fleet.
The drills are financed by the US, with Ukraine providing the training grounds in the Odessa, Mykolayiv and Kherson regions. Most of the countries taking part in the drills are NATO countries, along with Ukraine's Black Sea neighbors. Russia took part in Sea Breeze only once, back in 1998.
The maneuvers involve exercises on land, at sea and in the airImage: picture-alliance/ZUMA Wire/U.S. Marines
Showing solidarity with Kyiv
Sea Breeze has had special meaning for Ukraine ever since Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, which resulted in the Ukrainian Navy losing a base and several ships. The Russian Black Sea fleet was clearly a cut above the Ukrainian Navy prior to annexation, and it has extended its superiority ever since by introducing additional warships, some even equipped with Kalibr cruise missiles.
Odessa has since become Ukraine's main navy base and is often used by ships belonging to NATO. Because of the unequal balance of power with Russia, Sea Breeze is seen as a way of showing international solidarity with Ukraine.
Moscow keeping a close eye on Sea Breeze
Russia is keeping a close eye on the Black Sea maneuvers. In April, the country's Black Sea fleet conducted an unusually large exercise in Crimea involving 10,000 troops and 40 warships. Ships from other Russian areas were also deployed. In addition, Russia has since declared parts of the Black Sea coast off Crimea off-limits to foreign vessels until late October.
According to a spokesperson with the Russian Defense Ministry, Moscow will monitor the Ukrainian-American exercises very closely and respond if necessary.
This article has been translated from German
Eastern Ukraine: Saber-rattling between Moscow and Kyiv
Tanks rumble past, cannons thunder: Both Russia and Ukraine have reinforced military presence at their common border in the Donbass region. Both sides are accusing each other of provocation. Is escalation imminent?
Image: Serhoy Takhmazov/Reuters
Troops deployed to the Donbass region
In the first week of April, Russia had begun to build up its military presence at the border with Ukraine. This was a reaction to Ukraine's "provocations" — which were aimed at escalating the conflict between Russian separatists and Ukrainian government troops, the Kremlin said. According to observers sent by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), there was no provocation.
A tank fires during control checks of Russia's armed forces. On both sides of the Russian-Ukrainian border, troops are testing the combat readiness of their weapon systems. This thumbnail was taken from a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry.
The US, NATO and the EU have pledged support for Ukraine's efforts to defend its territory. Ankara said on Friday that the US had already announced at the end of March that it would be sending two warships to the Black Sea in mid-April. The USS Thomas Hudner (pictured) is one of two missile destroyers which sailed through the Bosporus in March.
Image: Murad Sezer/REUTERS
War raging for seven years
The conflict in eastern Ukraine broke out in early 2014, when pro-Russian rebels seized control in parts of the Ukrainian districts of Donetsk and Luhansk. According to the Ukrainian government and its Western allies, the Kremlin supports the rebels unofficially by providing mercenaries and weapons. Since 2014, several ceasefires have been agreed upon. They were, however, broken time and again.
Image: Oleksandr Klymenko/REUTERS
Civilians bear the brunt
A Donetsk resident inspects the ruins of his house, destroyed during a conflict between militants of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and the Ukrainian armed forces. Although mainly soldiers, mercenaries, rebels and militiamen are involved in the conflict, the civilian population is repeatedly affected. At the beginning of 2019, the UN recorded 3,300 civilians killed.
Image: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
Ceasefires and hostilities
Since 2014, combat activities of varying intensity have claimed the lives of a total of more than 13,000 people. The current ceasefire, in force since July 2020, is relatively stable, according to the OSCE. Recently, however, hostilities have increased again. At least seven Ukrainian government soldiers and a five-year-old boy were killed during the last two weeks.
Image: Serhiy Takhmazov/Reuters
Boosting the troops' morale
During a visit to the Donbass region earlier in the week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy inspected the situation on the ground and honored soldiers for services rendered. On Saturday, he will meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey. According to Ukrainian media reports, a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron is on the agenda as well.
Image: Presidency of Ukraine/picture alliance
Russian citizens on Ukrainian soil
By international law, the renegade areas belong to Ukraine. However, some 400,000 residents with Russian citizenship inhabit the zone. "To protect them," Moscow announced on Friday, the Kremlin would take action. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, meanwhile, said that "Russia now has more troops on the border with Ukraine than at any time since 2014."
