US warships will continue to enter the Black Sea, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Friday, April 16. His briefing was broadcast on Twitter by the US Department of Defense.
"We have been conducting warship operations in the Black Sea on a routine basis, and this will continue," Kirby told reporters.
At the same time, the representative of the US defense department declined to comment on the information that the US has abandoned plans to send its warships to the Black Sea this week due to the escalation of tensions near the borders of Ukraine.
As sources told Izvestia on April 14, the US Navy destroyers Roosevelt and Donald Cook suspended their movement towards the Black Sea. The ships changed their route and went to the island of Crete, where they spent the whole day.
Later, the publication Politico wrote that the Pentagon abandoned its plans because of the tense situation near the borders of Ukraine.
On April 8, CNN, citing a military source, reported that the United States is considering sending warships to the Black Sea in the coming weeks in order to demonstrate its support to Kiev.
In response, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the passage of American warships in the Black Sea is accompanied by aggressive rhetoric.
