The United States is strengthening Ukraine’s naval defenses with $125 million in military aid, a response to Russian militarization in the Black Sea region seven years after Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula.
The Obama administration took its eye off NATO’s southeastern border in 2014, allowing Russia to roll over a weak Ukraine and position itself just 200 miles from NATO borders. Since then, the U.S. has worked to shore up Ukraine’s defenses.
The new military assistance includes patrol boats, radars, and tactical equipment and recognizes Ukraine’s strategic position in the Black Sea and its goal to join the alliance.
Defense officials confirmed to the Washington Examiner that Crimea has been increasingly militarized since it was seized by Russia, setting up a Russian military outpost near NATO’s eastern flank. Russian ships and submarines also frequent the crowded region where three NATO partners, Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey, share a coastline.
BIDEN GIVES PUTIN THE SAUDI TREATMENT WITH NEW SANCTIONS
In late January and early February, U.S. Navy destroyers USS Donald Cook and USS Porter exercised in the Black Sea with the Ukrainian navy.
On one of those days, a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 fighter flew low near the Donald Cook in what has become a typical act of hostility to American and NATO forces in international waters in the Black Sea.
“This action reaffirms the U.S. commitment to providing defensive lethal weapons to enable Ukraine to more effectively defend itself against Russian aggression,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Monday after announcing the aid package.
The foreign military assistance will include a total of eight Mark VI patrol boats and counterartillery radars and tactical equipment and continued support for a satellite imagery and analysis capability, among other assistance.
The U.S. has committed more than $2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in 2014.
“Crimea is Ukraine,” President Biden said in a Feb. 26 statement on the seventh anniversary of the Russian invasion. “The United States does not and will never recognize Russia’s purported annexation of the peninsula, and we will stand with Ukraine against Russia’s aggressive acts.”
An official from U.S. Naval Forces Europe recently told the Washington Examiner that Ukraine represents a “huge partner” in the Black Sea region and would see increasingly robust naval exercises.
“We value our relationship and our operations with the Ukrainian navy,” the official said, noting the importance of Crimea to the region.
The Navy said that for the 21st year, the U.S. and Ukraine will co-host the exercise Sea Breeze in the Black Sea this summer.
“Every time that we go in, we are always looking for opportunities to continue to strengthen the partnership with our fellow Black Sea navies,” the Navy official assured.
Part of that strengthening includes exercises with Ukraine to ensure allies can carry out missions smoothly, including whether high-tech systems communicate with one another, the defense official said.
“We’re trying to follow our EUCOM commander’s lead and DOD focus on shifting our focus down to the Balkans, Black Sea region right now, a strategically important area where we’ve always had a presence, but we want to increase that,” a U.S. European Command planner said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Since the Russian invasion, the planner said the U.S. has increased its rotational presence with NATO partners Romania and Bulgaria and its cooperation with non-NATO countries, including Ukraine, Georgia, and Kosovo.
“We want to increase our ability to train with them and our interoperability with them to the greatest extent possible,” the planner said.
