Russian warships interfere with U.S.-Ukraine joint naval drills in Black Sea
On May 8, Russian warships interfered with joint naval exercises of the United States and Ukraine which were held about 100 nautical miles from Odesa, reported Ukrainian State Border Guard Service on its website.
On Saturday morning, the flagship of the Ukrainian Maritime Guard Grigory Kuropatnikov was joined in the Ukrainian waters by the U.S. Coast Guard ship Hamilton.
It is noted that the American partners arrived in Ukraine on a friendly visit, which will include joint maneuvers at sea, joint trainings to exchange experience in monitoring and assault operations, as well as a meeting of Coast Guard representatives to discuss ensuring safety of navigation.
American and Ukrainian ships practiced coherence of actions working as part of an international tactical group. The Ukrainian State Border Guard Service specified that the drills were tracked by Russian ships.
The Russian ships announced fictitious coordinates of closed areas, demanding that the U.S. and Ukrainian ships leave them. They maneuvered dangerously and tried to reduce area used for the drills of Ukrainian and the U.S. ships. The Russian ships did not respond to any communication through international maritime security channels.
“The audacious violations of international maritime law were carefully recorded and documented by Ukrainian border guards. Today, Grigory Kuropatnikov and USCGC Hamilton remain in the Black Sea, continuing joint exercises. The U.S. ship's visit to the port of Odessa is scheduled for May 10,” the Ukrainian Defense State Border Guard Service said.
On April 27, USCGC Hamilton entered the Black Sea.
On the same day, Russia sent its cruiser Moskva for exercises in the Black Sea.
On May 4, the Russian Federation reported that a Russian corvette followed USCGC Hamilton in the Black Sea.