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US Upgrades Ukrainian Ports To Fit American Warships
The US is also modernizing two military bases in Romania and Bulgaria.
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USS Carney prepares to go underway in Odesa harbor, Ukraine, July 2, 2019.
The US is also assisting Ukraine with repaving/extending the runways and updating the facilities at the Mykolaiv Military Airport. I imagine the Pentagon will then use this airport as the home base for a USAF RQ-4 Global Hawk drone and a US Navy P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft both currently flying out of the US Sigonella Naval Base in Sicily. These craft do a daily recon of Crimea, eastern Ukraine, the Kerch Strait, and Russia's southwest coastline on the Black Sea.
Related: До Очакова зможуть заходити кораблі НАТО та США (Ukrainian language)
The US is also modernizing two military bases in Romania and Bulgaria.
USS Carney prepares to go underway in Odesa harbor, Ukraine, July 2, 2019.
7/3/19
WASHINGTON: As tensions rise between Russia and Ukraine on the Black Sea, the US is upgrading several Ukrainian naval bases to give American and NATO warships the ability to dock just miles from Russia-controlled Crimea. The upgrades come after last November’s incident where Russian warships fired on and seized three Ukrainian navy vessels in the Kerch Strait between Russia and Ukraine. Russia is still holding the crews.Centered at the Ochakiv Naval Base and the military facility at Mykolaiv — 40 miles east of Odessa and less than 100 northwest of Crimea — the American-funded effort includes reinforcing and upgrading existing piers and adding a new floating dock, security fencing around the bases, ship repair facilities, and a pair of brand-new Maritime Operations Centers from which Ukrainian and NATO forces can direct exercises and coordinate activities. The new American effort in Ukraine will likely rankle Moscow. While Ukraine isn’t a NATO member, it does receive training from NATO forces and is currently hosting the annual Sea Breeze exercise that includes US and allied warships and several hundred Marines.
The US is building up Ukraine’s naval base at Ochakiv near Odesa, and at Mykolaiv (marked) on the Black Sea coast, west of Russian-occupied Crimea.
While visiting Washington earlier this year, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was discussing “what more we can do to enhance our security in the Black Sea region,” adding the allies had already agreed on “a package of measures to improve our situational awareness, and to step up our support for both Georgia and Ukraine.” The focus will be on training of maritime forces and coast guards, along with increased port visits and exercises. A majority of the effort is taking place at the Ochakiv, which has seen a series of visits from US Navy construction teams over the past few years. The work at Ochakiv won’t be wrapped up until August, Lt. Spencer Bull, operations officer for Underwater Construction Team 1 currently in Ukraine assessing the piers, told me. “The intent is to be able to use it for US and allied exercises,” he said, adding that his team of divers will work to reinforce existing piers, map out the seafloor to make sure bigger ships can dock there, and discuss where to place the planned floating dock.
The US is also assisting Ukraine with repaving/extending the runways and updating the facilities at the Mykolaiv Military Airport. I imagine the Pentagon will then use this airport as the home base for a USAF RQ-4 Global Hawk drone and a US Navy P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft both currently flying out of the US Sigonella Naval Base in Sicily. These craft do a daily recon of Crimea, eastern Ukraine, the Kerch Strait, and Russia's southwest coastline on the Black Sea.
Related: До Очакова зможуть заходити кораблі НАТО та США (Ukrainian language)
