Ukraine has a plan to neutralize Russian influence in the western waters of the Black Sea with a new national naval strategy, announced the country's president Volodymyr Zelensky in his traditional video address to the nation last night, quoted by DPA, BTA reports.
"We are aware that the war has changed the balance of power in our Black Sea region and that the Russian Navy will never dominate these waters again," Zelensky said. Ukraine will pursue its national interests and those of its partners by sea, as well as defend transport routes, the Ukrainian head of state said.
Russia established control over a large part of the Ukrainian navy when it annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, DPA recalls. Kiev lost more warships with the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, when Russian forces captured the port city of Berdyansk in Zaporozhye Oblast.
Although the Ukrainian army currently does not have large warships, Kiev has managed to gradually push the Russian Black Sea Fleet out of the western waters of the Black Sea, the agency points out, adding that this has somewhat revived maritime trade through the city of Odessa.< /p>