In 2018, Russian forces seized three Ukrainian vessels and captured 24 Ukrainian sailors following a clash in the Kerch Strait which connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov and is the sole access route for ships travelling to Ukraine's eastern port cities.
The Sea of Azov has a maximum depth of only 14 meters and is therefore much too shallow for most warships to operate, making it the ideal environment for the Mark VI-type patrol boats to operate in. (
The boats – the mosquito fleet Ukraine needs -- are of critical value far beyond the Sea of Azov. They are needed for the protection of Ukraine’s entire Black Sea coastline as well. Properly armed they can and should be a major deterrent to the Russian intimidation. Ukraine cannot match the size and power of the Russian navy, but a maneuverable and well-armed mosquito fleet of patrol boats would be a significant deterrent to Russian activity – Russian aggression would have serious costs. RAM
)
Russia seized and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and tensions between Kiev and Moscow in the region remain high. Ukraine's government accused Russia Wednesday of continuing to act aggressively in the region during a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
"The representative of Ukraine noted that Russia hinders navigation in the Azov-Black Sea region under contrived pretexts, which is a gross violation of international maritime law. Intensive militarization of the Sea of Azov continues," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
"Such a destructive policy of the Russian Federation has negative consequences not only for Ukraine and other countries of the Black Sea basin, but also for the wider region," the statement added. (
FOUN held a webinar with experts on Black Sea Security on May 20 during which these subjects were covered in detail – and – underscored the vital American national security interests at stake. It can be viewed at the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation’s website.
usukraine.org
RAM)
The Ukraine Security Initiative was thrust into the spotlight after the Trump administration
froze security assistance to Ukraine
after it was notified to Congress, an action that led the House of Representatives to impeach President Donald Trump.
The articles of impeachment said the Trump administration blocked the previous aid tranche to Ukraine in an effort to get Kiev (
Kyiv
) to investigate an energy company linked to the Biden family. Trump's attempts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Hunter Biden and Joe Biden, his potential political rival, were at the center of the impeachment trial.
Trump has repeatedly made
unfounded and false claims
to allege that the Bidens acted improperly in Ukraine. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe or Hunter Biden. (
Ukraine is not a partisan issue and United States national security interests in Ukraine are not a partisan issue – period, full stop! Yes, Ukraine has corruption issues – many addressed, others still challenging – which calls for conditionality in assistance, but inserting Ukraine into partisan politics from any direction is wrong and against American national security interests. RAM
)
Trump administration officials at times cited corruption in Ukraine as justification for freezing the aid however that justification was undermined by the Pentagon's certification at the time that Kiev (
Kyiv
) was making progress in combating corruption.
The official who provided that certification,
John Rood
, then the Pentagon's under secretary of defense for policy, was ousted shortly after Trump's acquittal impeachment vote.
The nonpartisan congressional watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, conducted a review which found that
the Trump administration broke the law
when it withheld US security aid to Ukraine last year that had been appropriated by Congress.
The GAO said that the White House budget office violated the Impoundment Control Act, a 1974 law that limits the White House from withholding funds that Congress has appropriated.
Almost all of the past US ambassadors to Ukraine on Tuesday urged against Ukraine being used as a cudgel in domestic politics, particularly during an election year. (
All of the living former ambassadors to Ukraine who are no longer in governmetn service. RAM
)
"We have worked over the years to build and strengthen the US-Ukrainian strategic partnership established in 1996," wrote retired Ambassadors Roman Popadiuk, Steven Pifer, Carlos Pascual, John Herbst, Bill Taylor, John Tefft and Marie Yovanovitch.
"We thus are disheartened by efforts to inject Ukraine into America's domestic politics as the 2020 US presidential election approaches," they said
in a joint statemen
t
released by the Atlantic Council. "Those efforts advance a false and toxic narrative, one with no basis in the reality of US-Ukraine relations, in order to weaken the relationship between the United States and Ukraine and sow division within our two countries."
The statement did not specifically say the efforts to which they were referring. (
But the reporter was able to re-report all of the political controversy of last year. Reiterating what the former ambassadors said - Ukraine and U.S.-Ukraine relations are not a partisan issues – move on to the serious substance of assisting Ukraine to defend itself and our interests against Russia’s war against us. RAM
)
------------------
The parenthetical comments above are those of Mr. McConnell and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation or FOUN.
