SEVASTOPOL. Sept 26 (Interfax-AVN) - Participation of 26 warships of the Ukrainian Navy in a large-scale exercise and the fact that they have successfully reached specified objective prove that both materiel and sailors are combat ready, Rear Admiral Ihor Knyaz, the Ukrainian Navy commander-in-chief, who had supervised the exercise, told reporters onboard the Getman Sagaydachny frigate on Friday.
According to the commander-in-chief, "almost all objectives facing the Navy this year have successfully been fulfilled", which proves that the Ukrainian Navy is combat ready.
Asked about the naval reform, the rear-admiral said that "the command had defined the purpose of each warship and vessel, carried out specific calculations on modernizing certain ships, which needed it or were subject to restoring, as well as coordinated the plan for writing off ships and vessels, where were to leave the inventory of the Navy."
Knyaz noted that "having streamlined the strength of the Navy, senior authorities could focus funds, spent on all forces, on warships, really required by the Navy in order to fulfil the objectives specified."
Dwelling on the problem of the unfinished Ukraina cruiser, Knyaz stressed that "the cruiser was not in service with the Ukrainian Navy, but belonged to the Ministry of Industrial Policy, thus, it was more of a political issue, rather than a military one."
The active stage of the Ukrainian Navy exercise started on Tuesday. The exercise saw participation of naval forces, deployed in Sevastopol, as well as command posts, and combat units of the Southern and the Western naval bases. This is the first time such exercise has seen participation of the Coast Guard, which has recently been attached to the Navy. Certain stages of the exercise saw participation of aircraft in service with the Ukrainian Air Force.
This exercise has become the largest one in the past few years, as far as the strength of forces involved is concerned.