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Recently, Ukraine and the United States launched joint naval exercise Sea Breeze in the Black Sea with the largest number ever of participating countries.
About exercise Sea Breeze
- It was launched by both the countries in a show of Western cooperation with Kiev as it faces off with Russia.
- Focus: It focuses on amphibious warfare, land maneuver warfare, diving operations, maritime interdiction operations, air defense, special operations integration, anti-submarine warfare and search and rescue operations.
- Exercise Sea Breeze brings most Black Sea nations and NATO allies and partners together to train and operate in the pursuit of building increased capability.
- The Sea Breeze drills which have taken place 21 times since 1997 will involve some 5,000 military personnel from more than 30 countries.
- The exercises will last two weeks and involve around 30 ships, including the missile destroyer USS Ross.
- Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and claims the waters around the peninsula as part of its territory.
- The USA is a key ally of Kiev in its conflict with Moscow over Crimea and pro-Moscow separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.
Black sea
- The Black Sea is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia.
- It lies east of the Balkans (Southeast Europe), south of the East European Plain in Eastern Europe, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia in Western Asia.
- It is supplied by major rivers, principally the Danube, Dnieper, Don, Dniester and Kuban.
- The Black Sea ultimately drains into the Mediterranean Sea, via the Turkish Straits and the Aegean Sea.
- The Bosporus Strait connects it to the small Sea of Marmara which in turn is connected to the Aegean Sea via the Strait of the Dardanelles.
Extra reading: https://journalsofindia.com/russia-uk-spar-over-black-sea/
Source: The Hindu
