• Ukraine and the United States started a military exercise involving NATO allies in the Black Sea and southern Ukraine on June 28. 

• Moscow has criticised the drills, and the Russian defence ministry said it would closely monitor them.

• Sea Breeze 2021 will last two weeks and involve about 5,000 military personnel from NATO and other allies, and around 30 ships and 40 aircraft. 

• US missile destroyer USS Ross and the US Marine Corps is taking part in the drills.

• Black Sea is a large inland sea situated at the southeastern extremity of Europe. Euxine Sea is the Greek name for the Black Sea.

Rise in tensions between NATO and Moscow

• Sea Breeze 2021 follows a rise in tensions between NATO and Moscow.

• Moscow said one of its warships fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs in the path of British destroyer Defender to force her out of an area near the Crimean Peninsula.

• Britain rejected Russia's account of the incident. 

• Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and says it is Russian territory, but the peninsula is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine.

• Relations between Kyiv and Moscow plummeted after Russia seized Crimea and over Russia's support for a separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine.

• Tension rose again this year when Russia massed troops on the border with Ukraine, where some of them remain along with their equipment.

• Russia's embassy in Washington called last week for the drills to be cancelled, and the Russian defence ministry said it would react if necessary to protect its own national security.

• Ukraine says the main goal is to gain experience in joint actions during multinational peacekeeping and security operations.

What is NATO?

• North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was formed in 1949 with the signing of the Washington Treaty. NATO is a security alliance of 30 countries from North America and Europe. 

• In 1949, there were 12 founding members of the alliance: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. 

• The other member countries are: Greece and Turkey (1952), Germany (1955), Spain (1982), the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (1999), Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia (2004), Albania and Croatia (2009), Montenegro (2017) and North Macedonia (2020).

• NATO’s fundamental goal is to safeguard the Allies’ freedom and security by political and military means.

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