Ukraine and NATO “wiped their snot”
The Sea Breeze exercise in 2019 resulted in a Russian victory that forced Ukraine and NATO to retreat in the Black Sea. Ukrainian political scientist Mikhail Gonchar stated this in an interview with the Kyiv newspaper Den.
He recalled how the Sea Breeze scenario had to be changed after Russia announced that it would conduct shooting exercises near Crimea - as a result, the maneuvers previously planned here by the Ukrainians and NATO were canceled.
“There was a precedent at the Sea Breeze exercises recently. We have blocked a certain water area between Crimea and the Odessa region. And Russia took and blocked part of this water area for conducting its exercises. This was done specifically for provocative purposes.
The result was that we and NATO "wiped our snot" and retreated, saying we wouldn't escalate the situation. And that's exactly what Russia needed. It was after this that they began "rubbing out" no-go zones in the Black Sea . Their "probing" of Sea Breeze had the desired effect," Gonchar laments, according to a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“No one can fight back the Kremlin on their own. Ukraine including. All we can do is work with our allies. But using the example of the situation with Sea Breeze, we needed naval forces. If the water area is closed for exercises, then it is physically blocked: ships are deployed, rather than drawing a line on the map and sending the coordinates to Roshydrography with a “request” to pay attention,” the Ukrainian expert complains.
Earlier, Kyiv stated that Russia, under the pretext of conducting exercises, closed off a significant portion of the Black Sea waters near Odessa and Izmail for three weeks in July.
Ukraine and NATO "wiped their snot "