A military expert explained how to protect shipping in the Black Sea from Russia: «Deploy air defense systems along the coast from Mykolaiv to Reni»

Military expert, reserve colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Roman Svitan, said that anti-aircraft missile complexes should be deployed along the coast from Mykolaiv to Reni to protect shipping from Russian invaders in the Black Sea.

He told about this in an interview with the Center for Transport Strategies.

First, for the safe movement of civilian ships in the Black Sea, says Roman Svitan, protection against mines and a sufficient number of minesweepers are needed: «Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania will now try to remove mines along their coasts, and the coast of Romania is already the beginning of the Ukrainian coast. That is, these three NATO countries will provide protection against mines».

— The second is air defense of the 12-mile zone. Cover with the same coastal missile systems from ships and anti-aircraft missile systems — from missiles and drones «Shahed». And this means deploying a sufficient number of air defense systems along the coast from Mykolaiv to Reni. The more, the better. Currently, it is already being said that they can be rented. Plus mobile response brigades for the interception of Shaheds. These can be groups both on land pickup trucks and on sea boats. In fact, a mosquito fleet, where a large-caliber machine gun will stand. Plus missiles, the same «Needles» or «Stingers», that is, it is already MANPADS, depending on the configuration. In this way, we will be able to protect both the sea and the coast, — believes the military expert.

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We remind that on July 17, the Kremlin announced the suspension of the «grain agreement» brokered by the UN and Turkey in July of last year, which made it possible to unblock three Ukrainian ports for the export of food. From that time, Russia began to inflict massive strikes on the port and grain infrastructure of Ukraine, attacking Odesa, Mykolaiv and other port cities.

It is worth noting that the indicators of the August export of grain from Ukraine are at the level of the pre-war indicators of the export of grain by the Mykolaiv Sea Trade Port. For example, during 2021, the port exported about 12 million tons of grain.

Earlier, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the international community to expand the «grain corridor» to Mykolaiv ports. At the same time, the head of Mykolaiv Oblast Vitaly Kim reported that the sea ports of Mykolaiv region are 90% ready for grain export, but without the consent of the Russians, the grain corridor will not be able to function.

As you know, Turkish President Recep Erdogan said that Russia will not prevent the departure of Turkish ships from Mykolaiv Seaport and «Olvia». 29 vessels are preparing to leave Mykolaiv ports.

Back in November last year, the Ukrainian side officially appealed to the partners of the initiative for the safe transportation of agricultural products across the Black Sea with a proposal to extend the initiative for at least 1 year and to join the Mykolayiv port to it.