On June 28, the annual international exercise "Sea Breeze" started in Odesa. In response, Russian warships have carried out a live fire training exercise in the Black Sea, the country's Black Sea fleet said on Thursday, as Ukraine and NATO countries held military drills in the same wider area.
The Sea Breeze drills, led by Ukraine and the United States, follow a spike in tensions between NATO and Moscow after Russia last week said it had fired warning shots and dropped bombs in the path of a British warship to expel it from its territorial waters near Crimea.London said it did not recognize Moscow's account of the incident near the peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Moscow had called for the Sea Breeze exercise to be canceled before it began, and the Russian defense ministry has said it will react to safeguard national security if necessary.
Russia's Black Sea fleet said in a statement on Thursday carried by the Interfax news agency that the crews of two large landing ships had fired at sea and air targets in the Black Sea.The drill came two days after Russia tested its air defence systems in Crimea
According to the statement published on the Facebook page of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Russia’s actions were provoked by its fear of losing its dominant role in the north of the Black Sea.
"The Military Intelligence Service of Ukraine notes that since 2015 Russia was rapidly increasing its military component in the occupied Crimea. And during the international naval exercises Russia is working out various ways and methods of defeating those groups that are being created in the Black Sea. However, the international community demonstrates its solidarity with Ukraine and is workingtogether with the state to ensure security in the region. Russia is really afraid," Vadim Skibitsky said.
At the same time, according to him, attempts by the Russian Federation to demonstrate its readiness to projectits naval power are incomportionate with the naval potential of those taking part in the "Sea Breeze - 2021" countries.
It's worth noting that Sea Breeze 2021 will last two weeks and involve about 5,000 military personnel from NATO and other allies, and around 30 ships and 40 aircraft, with U.S. missile destroyer USS Ross and the U.S. Marine Corps taking part.