This year's Ukrainian-American Sea Breeze exercises started in Odessa
This year, the State Border Service of Ukraine is represented in exercises as usual by the forces of the Maritime Guard and Border Aviation, and the involvement of forces in the land component has been renewed.
In general, the border agency will be represented by 8 units of the ship and boat depot, 3 special operations departments, 2 aircraft and a helicopter, as well as the forces of 10 mobile border detachment of the DOZOR and the Border Rapid Response Command of the Southern Regional Directorate of the DPSU.
The main tasks of the exercises will be to prepare servicemen, staffs and units of Ukrainian forces for joint actions with military formations of the armed forces of NATO member states, gaining experience in operational planning, increasing the level of interoperability and interspecific cooperation between Ukraine and the member states and partners of the North Atlantic Alliance.
At the opening ceremony, the leaders of the exercises from Ukraine and the United States announced the main theme and objectives of the maneuvers, congratulated the participants and expressed gratitude to the international partners, the countries participating in the exercises, for the support and coordination of actions in demonstrating support for Ukraine in its pursuit of sovereignty unity, integrity and independence of the state, as well as world-class security, so that the Azov-Black Sea region is not associated with the concept of “crisis”.
The deputy commander of the 65th Tactical Group 6 of the US Navy, Captain 1st Rank Kyle Gant, said in a welcoming speech: “These exercises are a clear demonstration of the desire for peace and stability in Europe. The possibility of training in real conditions at sea is difficult to overestimate. Within 2 weeks, we plan to take into account the experience of two decades and increase our capacity for teamwork, to gain new knowledge that we will share in our national forces.”
In addition to the United States and Ukraine, Australia, the Republic of Albania, the United Arab Emirates, the People's Republic of Bangladesh, the Republic of Bulgaria, the Federal Republic of Brazil, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Greek Republic, Georgia are participating in Sea Breeze 2021, Kingdom of Denmark, Republic of Estonia, Arab Republic of Egypt, State of Israel, Italian Republic, Canada, Republic of Latvia, Republic of Lithuania, Republic of Moldova, Kingdom of Norway, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Republic of Poland, Romania, Senegal, Turkish Republic, French Republic, Kingdom of Sweden, State of Japan.
In the naval component, in the Black Sea, the Maritime Guard forces will practice interaction in tactical groups with the ships of fellow border guards of Georgia, the navies of the United States, Romania, Bulgaria and other countries of the alliance.
This includes maneuvering and repelling the attack of low-speed targets, artillery fire and anti-sabotage defense of the ship, the transmission of cargo and signals, reconnaissance operations and many other exercises, the standards of which meet the standards of training NATO forces.
A whole complex of exercises to ensure the safety of civil navigation, search, stop and inspect a suspicious vessel, and rescue on the water will also be deployed on the Danube. Also, ships and boats of the Maritime Guard will be involved in the landing operation.
In the diving and anti-sabotage component, the special operations departments will practice the skills of detecting underwater hiding places, inspecting dangerous places and objects, lifting from under water cargo of various configurations, weights and purposes, assault landing on the offending vessel, and ways of preserving life and providing assistance in extreme conditions to both its fighters and the injured population of the crisis region.
Also, practical trainings with experienced specialists from one of the best NATO bases in the EU for training such teams in Greece are planned for the review groups.
The training will involve about 30 ships, boats and vessels, more than 30 aircraft and helicopters, up to 5000 personnel and 50 units of weapons and military equipment. It will last from June 28 to July 10 in Odessa, Nikolaev and Kherson regions and at certain landfills of the northwestern part of the Black Sea.
Press service of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine
