President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, the Chief Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, inspected the course of the Multinational Exercises Sea Breeze 2018 during his working visit to Odesa and noted that the military-strategic situation in the Black Sea region was very tense. As President of Ukraine said: “After the illegal annexation of Crimea, we see a sharp increase in the escalation of pressure. Russia has increased its military grouping in the illegally occupied territory. For the first time there is a striking aviation, state-of-the-art missiles and anti-aircraft systems. We see the composition of the Black Sea Fleet of Russia illegally located in the annexed Ukrainian Sevastopol, reinforced by submarines and new warships, armed with long-range missiles. The ship group of the aggressor country is significantly reinforced in the Sea of Azov,”
He said that Russia began illegally stopping and searching ships that are sailing to Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov. It’s about both Ukrainian and foreign vessels. “We see that this is being done to block Ukraine in the Sea of Azov. To escalate tension, probably, to conduct a military attack on Mariupol, where the export of ferrous metallurgy of Ukraine is carried out, organize attacks on other ports of the Sea of Azov,” the Head of State said. Petro Poroshenko especially emphasized the need to increase combat readiness of the Ukrainian Navy: “Now the combat capability and combat readiness of the Naval Forces of Ukraine and interoperability with our partners, NATO allies and security allies in the Black Sea region are extremely important”.