KYIV. Aug 9 (Interfax) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has announced plans to increase the number of participants in the Sea Breeze exercise and broaden its geography starting next year.
"Our cooperation [with NATO member countries and allies] confirms our unity and readiness to protect peace and common values jointly. Our plans for next year include expanding the contingent of military participants in the drills, especially naval forces, and broadening the districts that will host Sea Breeze 2019," Poroshenko wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday evening.
Representatives of 19 NATO members and allies took part in this year's Sea Breeze, he wrote.
"The assessment given by mentors from eight member countries of the alliance was clear and unambiguous: thanks to the drills, a major step has been taken toward raising the level of interaction and coordination between the Ukrainian Navy and the allies' armed forces. And the Sea Breeze 2018 military exercise not only helped improve this compatibility, but also helped raise the level of operational proficiency both at sea and on land and coordination between multinational units," Poroshenko said.
The Ukrainian-U.S. exercise was held in Ukraine on July 9-21. In addition to Ukraine and the U.S., it involved Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, Greece, Georgia, Denmark, Estonia, India, Italy, Canada, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, the United Arab Emirates, Poland, Romania, Turkey, and Sweden.