The multinational military exercise, dubbed Sea Breeze 2008, concluded in southern Ukraine, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said in a statement Monday.
"The plan of Sea Breeze 2008 Exercise involving the soldiers from 16 countries has been carried out in full," Commander of the Ukrainian Navy Ihor Teniukh said during the closing ceremony of the exercises in Odessa, according to the statement.
Teniukh said that during the exercises the participants conducted 55 air sorties, 410 paradrops, and 76 naval drills with live firing at sea targets.
The two-week military exercises aimed at practicing international peacekeeping operations kicked off on July 14. The participants included Ukraine, the United States, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Macedonia, Lithuania and Turkey.
During the exercises, Ukrainian anti-NATO protesters set up camps along the Black Sea coast, held rallies, and reportedly attempted to prevent foreign warships participating in the exercises from leaving the port of Odessa.
Two years ago, the Sea Breeze 2006 exercise in the Crimea was obstructed by protesters, forcing the United States to redeploy the Advantage cargo ship to another location.
The Sea Breeze exercises have been taking place annually since 1997.
Source:Xinhua
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