Ukraine denounces Russia’s “aggressive actions” to restrict freedom of navigation in the Black Sea

The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, denounced this Sunday that Russia’s “militarization and aggressive actions” attempt to restrict navigation in the Black Sea, and pledged that his country will take action in this regard, during a visit to the port of Odessa on the occasion of Navy Day.

The President pointed out that Joint Sea Breeze exercises with the United States, which the two countries have been carrying out every year since 1997, “demonstrate unity in the face of growing threats of war in the Black Sea basin due to its militarization and aggressive actions by the Russian Federation”.

“Show everyone that We will not tolerate any restriction on the freedom of navigation in the Black Sea or any violation of the sovereign right of Ukraine as a riparian nation, ”Zelensky said in his speech, collected by the official Russian news agency Sputnik.

In this sense, Zelensky promised that one of the priorities of his presidency will be “to build a powerful navy, equipped with modern ships and weapons and ready to respond to any threat”.

“Our first modern corvette has already started up in Turkey, its construction will be completed in national shipyards by the end of 2023,” he said.

While Moscow considers the strip of sea around Crimea to be part of its territorial waters, the West claims that it continues to belong to Ukraine.

Exercise Sea Breeze 2021, which takes place in the Black Sea basin from June 28 to July 10, has the participation of some 5,000 soldiers, 40 planes and 32 ships from 32 countries, including the guided-missile destroyer “USS Ross”.

In reaction, the Russian delegation to the talks on arms control in Vienna on Monday denounced on Twitter “the scale and aggressiveness” of the maneuvers, specifying that they “contribute little to security in the region”.

The military exercises come just days after the British naval destroyer “HMS Defender” passed near Russian-annexed Crimea on the Black Sea, and Moscow said it had fired warning shots to push it back. But the UK said it was making “innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law.”

“It was a provocation!” Putin said Wednesday during the annual TV question-and-answer session with the Russian people. “Not only the British but also Americans participated,” continued the Russian president, declaring that Moscow had seen an “American reconnaissance plane” in the region on the day of the incident. “Why do this? To show that they don’t recognize Crimea (like Russian)? They don’t recognize it, but why provoke?” He added.

“Even if we had sunk this ship, it would have been very difficult to imagine that the world would be heading towards World War III,” Putin said. “The world knows that it will not be victorious in this war,” he said.

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and claims the waters around the peninsula as part of its territory. Most countries do not recognize this annexation and support Ukraine’s water claims.

(With information from Europa Press, AFP and EFE)

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