A Ukrainian sailor speaks during final planning in Glasgow, Scotland, as Sea Breeze 2024 kicks off, in a photo posted June 24, 2024. The U.S., U.K. and allies are on hand as Ukrainian ships train to detect and counter sea mines. The exercise took part in the Black Sea prior to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. (X/NATO Maritime Command)
NAPLES, Italy — Two Ukrainian navy ships are participating this week in an annual multinational exercise near Scotland that aims to prepare Ukraine for a postwar era in the Black Sea.
Sea Breeze 2024 started Monday with the first segment dedicated to finding and destroying sea mines.
“A large focus of this exercise is … the ability to tactically control mine countermeasures assets and effectively keep track of the ships’ operations throughout the exercise scenario,” said Lt. j.g. Paula Niederland, a spokeswoman for U.S. 6th Fleet.
Participants in the exercise include Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Japan, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, the U.K., the U.S. and NATO Maritime Command, the Navy said.
Sea Breeze includes 10 support personnel from U.S. 6th Fleet’s Task Force 68 and four others from a U.S. expeditionary warfare training group, according to the statement.
The Estonian navy ship EMLUgand pulls into King George V Docks for the Sea Breeze 2024 exercise in Glasgow, Scotland, June 21, 2024. Sea Breeze is a joint mine countermeasure exercise that includes U.S., British and Ukrainian ships. (Jan Valle/U.S. Air Force)
A second and third segment of the exercise will take place later this year in Bulgaria.
Last year, the U.K. gifted two retired minehunter ships, subsequently named Cherkasy and Chernihiv, to Ukraine. The British navy says their instructors have been working with the Ukrainian crews for the past 18 months.
That work is part of a collaborative effort, headed by the U.K. and Norway, to help Ukraine with the equipment, training and infrastructure needed to bolster security in the Black Sea region, according to the British navy.
The German navy ship Donau, along with ships from France and Estonia, pull into King George V Docks for Sea Breeze 2024 in Glasgow, Scotland, June 21, 2024. Sea Breeze is a joint mine countermeasure exercise. (Jan Valle/U.S. Air Force)
Sea Breeze includes training in sea, air and land operations. The exercise, which has frequently drawn Moscow’s ire, was preempted in 2022 by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of that year. It resumed in 2023, also in Scotland.
“It is crucial for Allies and partners to have a venue to work side-by-side on mine countermeasures, especially with the great threat floating mines pose to maritime safety and security in the Black Sea as a result of the war in Ukraine,” said Capt. Geoffrey Townsend, commodore of Task Force 68.
