U.S., British, Ukrainian special forces held drill on British destroyer that triggered today’s incident in Black Sea

Interfax-Ukraine reports today that U.S., British and Ukrainian special operation forces conducted a training exercise abroad the HMS Defender, the guided-missile destroyer involved in today’s incident off the coast of Crimea that has given rise to a major contretemps and may well have triggered an armed incident between the vessel and the Russian air force and border guard.

According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry: “This event has once again proved that the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are capable of performing tasks on a par with their colleagues from NATO.”

HMS Defender