A joint parade of Ukraine’s Navy and the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol on Russia’s Navy Day reflects a new level of bilateral interaction, Ukrainian Defense Minister Dmytro Salamatin said on Sunday.
“We have common heroic history. The joint celebration demonstrates a new level of interaction between our countries. We have common goals on the Black Sea: to preserve peace and stability in the region,” Salamatin said in Sevastopol where the navies of both countries started a naval parade.
The Russian Navy celebrates its professional holiday on the last Sunday of July. The holiday, established in 1939, currently coincides with the celebration of the Ukrainian Fleet Day.
Russian Black Sea Commander, Rear Admiral Alexander Fedotenkov and Ukrainian Navy Commander, Vice-Admiral Yuriy Ilyin, boarded a boat to jointly review a line of battle ships from both navies in the Sevastopol Bay at the start of the joint naval parade and greeted the sailors.
“For the first time in many years, the sailors from the navies of two fraternal states are celebrating their professional holiday together. I am sure that this event will now become a tradition because the Black Sea and Sevastopol have long been our common home,” Fedotenkov said.
Tens of thousands of people gathered on the shores of the Sevastopol Bay on Sunday to view the joint naval parade.
“There are no less than 50,000 people in the center of the city,” a Ukrainian police officer told RIA Novosti.
People are coming to the parade from all over the Crimea. Thousands of cars created a traffic jam from an entry to Sevastopol to the center of the city.
The parade will demonstrate the landing of a joint marine force and firing drills and involve the Russian Bora-class hoverborne guided missile corvette Samum, the Ukrainian Zaporozhye submarine, mine sweepers, small antisubmarine warfare and guided missile ships from both navies.
Russian and Ukrainian assault landing ships will demonstrate the landing of marines onto rough terrain and will fire torpedoes to destroy designated targets.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet is stationed at the historic port of Sevastopol in Crimea under a lease agreement with Ukraine. Moscow and Kiev signed the so-called Kharkiv agreements on April 21, 2010, extending the fleet’s lease to the base for another 25 years after the current lease expires in 2017