SEVASTOPOL. March 22 (Interfax-AVN) - Command bodies of the Ukrainian Navy are fully ready for controlling their subordinate forces, and the forces are ready for accomplishment of assigned missions, a spokesman for the Navy Staff said on Friday.
"The conclusion was drawn by Ukrainian Defense Minister Volodymyr Shkidchenko while summing up results of the Sea Shield 2002 five-day command-post exercise that he had controlled," the spokesman told Interfax-Military News Agency. The minister said he had "personally made sure that the Navy command bodies were ready to control their subordinate troops."
"Earlier such events aimed to check the Navy's ability to interact with units of other armed services, but during the Sea Shield 2002 exercise Navy Commander Mykhaylo Yezhel controlled actions of coast defense, all the ground grouping and air defense units involved in the training," Shkidchenko said. "Being the commander of the exercise, I used a lot of inductions to check readiness of the Navy command to act in unusual situations. I am satisfied with the results," he noted.