Twenty-seven vessels from 10 countries are gathering this week in the Black Sea for "Sea Breeze 2020," an annual naval exercise.

Co-hosted by Ukraine and the United States, the exercise is in its 20th year, and this year brings together ships and aircraft of NATO members Bulgaria, Norway, Romania, Spain, France, Italy, Turkey, Ukraine and the United States, and non-member Georgia.

It will focus this year on maritime interdiction operations, air defense, anti-submarine warfare, damage control, and search and rescue operations, a statement on Monday from the U.S. 6th Fleet said.

Participating U.S. units include the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Porter, an P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft from Patrol Squadron 47. About 400 U.S. Navy personnel, and about 2,000 more representing the other countries, are expected to participate.

The event was reduced to seven days because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It typically includes land exercises, but this year will take place exclusively at sea and in the air.

"The main goal is to conduct an international naval security operation in the crisis area," said Rear Adm. Oleskiy Neyizhpapa, commander of the Ukrainian Navy said in a telephone briefing. "The Black Sea has long ceased to be stable. Exercises such as Sea Breeze prove that the United States and NATO partners support peace and stability in the Black Sea region."

"The sea is not an obstacle, but a way to communicate, so the task of all fleets is to make sea links easier and safer," Neyizhpapa said. "Not all countries understand these principles. This is especially true of the Russian Federation."

Ukraine, US launch Black Sea naval drills
Kiev (AFP) July 20, 2020 –

Ukraine and the United States launched joint naval exercises in the Black Sea on Monday, in a show of US cooperation with Kiev as it faces off with Russia.

Twenty-six ships from eight nations were taking part in the annual Sea Breeze exercises co-hosted by the two nations, including the USS Porter guided-missile destroyer.

"The Black Sea is a vital waterway that is critical to maritime commerce and stability in Europe," the commander of the US Sixth Fleet, Vice Admiral Eugene Black, said in a telephone press briefing on the drills.

"The US, NATO allies, and partner nations recognise the importance… of being able to seamlessly operate together and deter adversary aggression," he said.

Washington is a key ally of Ukraine in its conflict with Russia over Crimea and pro-Moscow separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and in 2018 Russian forces boarded and took control of three Ukrainian naval ships off the Black Sea peninsula.

The exercises, which have taken place 20 times since 1997, were to last a week and be limited to sea and air operations because of coronavirus restrictions.

Bulgaria, Georgia, Norway, Romania, Spain and Turkey were also taking part.

President Vladimir Putin was in Crimea Monday to visit a shipyard and news agency Interfax quoted Russia's supreme command as saying the country's Black Sea fleet was monitoring US ships in the region.