The Ukrainian-U.S. Sea Breeze 2010 military exercise will be held from July 12 to 23, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry has stated.
Planning and conducting an anti-piracy operation will be the main purpose of the exercise.
The exercise will also involve servicemen from Azerbaijan, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Georgia, Denmark, Moldova, Poland, Turkey and Sweden. An Austrian military expert will be an observer.
The coastal phase of the exercise will unfold at the Shyroky Lan training range in the Mykolaiv region, where a Ukrainian marine battalion and one Georgian and one Moldovan platoon will be deployed in a field camp. The naval phase will take place in the northwestern sector of the Black Sea.
The multinational headquarters will be based at Ukraine’s western naval base in Odesa.
Meanwhile, the Crimean parliament on April 21 sent a letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and to parliament saying that it is impermissible to hold Sea Breeze in Crimea.
The Odesa regional legislature sent a similar letter to Yanukovych, to the Rada and to the National Security and Defense Council on May 12. The Communist Party of Ukraine has consistently spoken against allowing formations from NATO countries in Ukraine and holding international exercises.
However, on May 18 the Ukrainian parliament backed the president’s decision to allow foreign troops into Ukraine to join the exercise.
