Commanding officer Fluet: Canadian and Ukrainian navy ships cooperating consistently during drills

The Canadian and Ukrainian military personnel managed to cooperate consistently during the joint exercises in the Black Sea.

Martin Fluet, the commanding officer of the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Toronto, which participated together with Ukrainian ship Pryluky in the mini-exercises in the Black Sea, said this in an interview to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"We remained very pleased with the results of the exercises as we had been interacting perfectly well with each other. We invited several Ukrainian sailors aboard and sent our people to their ship. Together we trained in maneuvering, communicating and shooting. Everything went great, I was pleased with the cooperation," said Fluet.

He added that the different standards of the armed forces of Ukraine and Canada had not obstructed successful joint training. "So far, our interaction takes place at a fairly basic level, but NATO works with Ukraine to establish common standards and operational procedures. The process of acquiring membership in NATO involves assimilating equipment and processes. The Alliance makes efforts to prepare Ukraine, and although the interaction is still very basic, the mutual presence and communication we conduct are very useful," the Captain 2nd rank said.

As reported, the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Toronto (FFH 333) and the Spanish Navy frigate Santa Maria (F-81)  were on a visit to Odesa last week, after which they joined the NATO Sea Shield large-scale drills in the Black Sea.

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