Retired NATO General Hodges points to growing Russian threat in Black Sea

"I believe that the Black Sea is even more important for Russia than the Baltic Sea. Therefore, NATO should reflect on how to improve the security of our allies (Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey) and our partners (Ukraine and Georgia) so that our actions were not provocative in nature," the General said in an interview with the Segodnya Ukrainian daily.

In addition, Hodges believes that the OSCE in Europe could provide even greater assistance to Ukraine in opposing Russian aggression and exert considerable pressure on Moscow regarding the implementation of the Minsk agreements. "All the parties to the Minsk peace accords agreed to be responsible for monitoring over their implementation. However, to date, Russian-controlled separatists prevent the OSCE monitors from carrying out their work. I believe it is the direction where we together with the venerable international organization [OSCE] (by the way, Russia is its member state) can achieve progress and allow [the monitors] do their work."

Hodges commended the Ukrainian servicemen and women, who manage to successfully resist the strength of the Russian army

The General explained that the US had also learned a lot from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who had experience of war with Russia.

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