Ukraine needs to have strategy for maintaining security in Black Sea when liberating Crimea - expert's opinion

Ukraine needs to have a clear strategy to maintain peace and security in the Black Sea region at the time of the liberation of Crimea due to the exhaustion of its own naval forces.

This was stated by Alina Frolova, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Center for Defense Strategies, former Deputy Minister of Defense, during a discussion of the results of the First Black Sea Security Conference of the International Crimea Platform in the Media Center Ukraine - Ukrinform.

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"We have to understand that the moment we physically liberate Crimea, Ukraine will not have its own ability to defend its maritime territories. Our naval forces are bleeding out, to put it mildly. This is not something that can be restored in six months. Therefore, it is imperative that by the time Crimea is liberated... we have a clear strategy in place on how we will maintain peace and security in the Black Sea region," she said.

According to Frolova, these should be coalition efforts and agreements.

At the same time, the expert noted that none of the maritime strategies of the United States, the United Kingdom, the EU, or NATO include the Black Sea.

Therefore, according to Frolova, the purpose of the Black Sea Security Conference was to move forward the formulation and adoption of these strategies.

As Ukrinform reported, on April 12-13, Bucharest, Romania, hosted the First Black Sea Security Conference of the International Crimea Platform, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania, the Ministry of National Defense of Romania, in partnership with the Center for Defense Strategies (Ukraine).