‘Irritated’ by Russia, US Admiral Sends Warship to Black Sea

In November, a maritime incident saw Ukrainian boats enter Russian territorial waters without permission, leading to their capture and detention of their crew. US Admiral James Foggo says he is ‘irritated’ by that

To that end, the admiral has ordered the USS Donald Cook, a destroyer, to enter the Black Sea and conduct naval exercises with Ukraine to “demonstrate solidarity” with what remains of the nation’s very limited navy.

In practice, this is just the latest in a long series of US military escalations targeting Russia, and even if a single US destroyer is no practical naval threat to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, it’s another US show of force.

The Trump Administration already endorsed Ukraine over the November incident, though they also said they didn’t expect to launch a war against Russia over it. Why, months later, they’ve decided to send a warship is unclear, but it continues to trend of hostility in the vicinity of Russia.