Russia has challenging number of ships in Black Sea that can threaten NATO - Poroshenko

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wrote this in his article for The New York Times, the press service of the head of state reported on Friday.

"These recent events have a direct bearing on the security of all of NATO. Russia now has a challenging number of naval ships in the Black Sea, meaning it can threaten NATO members Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. And that may just be the beginning," Poroshenko said.

The head of state also said that Russia has a significant presence in the Baltic Sea. "Recently, Russia's fighters were intercepted, not for the first time, over the Baltic region and had not filed a flight plan. Who can guarantee that this was not a rehearsal of patrols over the notorious Nord Stream II gas pipeline being built by Russia through the Baltic Sea to challenge Europe?" he wrote.

On November 25, Russian border ships committed aggressive actions against Ukrainian ships that were en route from Odesa to Mariupol. Russian special forces fired on and seized three Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait, as well as 24 sailors.

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