In the northwestern part of the black
sea the ukrainian navy's mid-sized
landing ship yuri olafirenko and the
french navy's frigate overn have
conducted a passing exercise, the
statement said. The aim was to maintain security in the
black sea region, improve the training
and interoperability of the crews of
ukrainian and french ships in accordance
with the standards of the north atlantic
alliance.
In addition to surface combat units from
the french side, an NH-90 military
transport and naval helicopter was
involved in the drills. The main focus was on improving the
interoperability and coherence of the
crews, the ukrainian navy said. The ship's crews communicated
exclusively in english, in accordance
with the Message Transfer Part (MTP). In early october NATO and georgian ships
conducted exercises in the black sea.
Due to tensions between russia and
ukraine NATO warships have increased
their presence and exercises in the
black sea. Including member states that
have no coastline in the sea. in 2021 NATO ships spent 226 days in the black
sea. The ukrainian experts see NATO as the
only possible defense against russian
aggression.
They believe that a NATO black sea fleet
is needed to guard the maritime space
all year round based in constanza, romania open to non-NATO members like
ukraine and georgia. The french navy deployed the D-654 FSO Vern a FREMM Class Frigate in
the black sea a couple of weeks ago the
31st NATO warship to visit in 2021. Its presence sparked a strong reaction
from russia whose national defense
control center announced that the
russian black sea fleet was tracking the
movements of the french ship.
The kremlin's reaction to the arrival of
new western ships is now routine. Not
only because they keep coming but also
because they are staying longer. Andre Kleimenko, director of ukraine's
black sea institute for strategic
studies and editor-in-chief of black sea
news the kremlin's reaction should not
raise too many concerns.
At this point in time it is
understandable. This is an immediate
response to the pressure from russia on
ukraine, a pattern that has been going on
for more than seven years now. Four of the last five ships to enter the
sea are the us, the other is french. They
arrived in all probability due to the
escalation of the russian ukrainian
conflict. It is very good that both ships and
financial resources have been found
because this is not cheap, climenko notes. Indeed there is great concern over
possible russian military actions at the
start of the new year and NATO visits
could at least delay these threats.
US Arleigh Burke Class Destroyers each
carry more than 90 missiles and it is
clear that the russian response to their
presence is very negative. Russia's nervous reaction is based on a
clear calculation that an escalation of
the conflict, planned or accidental would
be unsustainable for russian forces. If the russians managed to hit a NATO ship with anti-missile ships this would
be a direct attack on NATO and would
trigger a defense mechanism by all the
countries of the alliance.
Still, ukrainian analysts fear a possible
russian blitz during the christmas and
new year holidays. For them the arrival
of the french frigate is extremely
important. In december russia intensified its
maritime exercises in the area hindering
civil and commercial navigation. Its ships moved ever closer to the
ukrainian coast, ports and maritime
sources of natural gas but also georgian
waters in the bosporus. This increases the likelihood of an
armed clash, even accidental in the black
sea and the sea of Azov.
