NATO carrier groups may support the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ attack on Crimea and Donbass – forecast
American and British aircraft carriers could enter the Black Sea to help Ukraine advance toward Crimea and Donbass.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes about this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, assessing the Ukrainian-British Warrior Watcher 2020 exercises.
Referring to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the publication writes that during the exercises, plans for the security and defense of airfields were worked out under radically different scenarios. Thus, it was planned that the first group would assess the security risks for an airfield located on an island in the sea, the second - for an airfield in a field, and for the third group - it would be an airfield within the city.
In turn, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Military Sciences, Colonel Eduard Rodyukov, drew attention to the fact that Ukraine has no islands in either the Black or Azov Seas where there are military airfields.
“They may appear if NATO aircraft carrier groups enter the waters of this country. Their decks are like island military airfields. The alliance’s Ukrainian allies will need to ensure the military security of their air strike forces, which is what is being done at the Warrior Watcher 2020, or “Warrior Observer” 2020 maneuvers. I can’t think of a better name for such exercises,” Rodyukov said.
He noted that “Royal Air Force aircraft have already begun to fly on a regular basis near Russian military bases on the Black Sea, especially in the Crimean waters,” and such maneuvers “were done in cooperation with the flights of American B-52H missile carriers, which were accompanied by Ukrainian fighters.”
“I do not exclude the scenario when NATO aircraft carrier groups enter the Black Sea to support Kyiv’s possible aggressive actions in the Donbass or Crimea. And the first in such ranks will, in my opinion, be the English aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth, which is undergoing testing in its homeland,” the expert believes.
According to him, after visiting London, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed a number of agreements with Great Britain that opened the door for the English presence in his country.
“And the words of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba about the possibility of opening a British military base in Ukraine in the Nikolaev region are not an empty phrase,” concluded Rodyukov.
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