The Head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Serhii Deineko has inspected the organization of the maritime border protection and the activities of the Maritime Guard units in the framework of his working trip to the Southern region.

The Chief of the Maritime regional directorate Oleh Kostur reported on the results of operational and service activities, as well as on a prospective work plan and the actual development of the management and the newly created units.

As noted, the Maritime Guard has increased all indicators of the efficiency of the available ships and boats use compared to 2018. The number of ship departures has grown almost one and a half times, and, accordingly, provided passage of more than 60 thousand nautical miles of the border, territorial sea, and economic zone, compared with the previous figure of about 40 thousand miles.

The order of stay and navigation of nearly 12,500 ships and crafts has been monitored, over 1,000 of them have been inspected. To provide the maximum effectiveness of this work, the Regional Directorate of the Maritime Guard is developing ways of interaction. It is also introducing new technologies for attracting satellite systems for illumination of the surface environment in the exclusive (maritime) economic zone, as well as in the Sea of Azov.

Given that Maritime Guard staff continue to carry out combat missions within the Joint Force in the Sea of Azov, as well as the risks and probability of aggressive behavior by border law offenders at sea, the management of the Regional Directorate of the Maritime Guardhas voiced proposals for specific measures to improve the system of combat training and improve it. The Head of the Service has supported this initiative and paid attention to the need to increase the level of training not only of junior staff, but also that of officers, including on the basis of the Training Center.

At present, the Maritime Guard has addressed the development of a training base. There are also plans for a floating educational and training complex for divers, a complex for the preparation of special operations departments (including an indoor shooting range, a training ground for testing groups in the premises of vessels, a water obstacle course, and a coastal obstacle course), a navigation simulator, and a training ground. All of these projects are to be implemented within the Marine Guard Development Program and with the support of international partners.

At the ship moorage Serhii Deineko and Oleh Kostur discussed the features and procedure of preparation and construction of service and technical facilities to support the activities of the Maritime Guard Detachments: Logistics and Technical Support Centers in Odessa, Mariupol, Berdiansk, the complex of buildings for the location of reformed Special Operations Divisions and Divisions of Maritime Guard Boats.

They also discussed the prospects of upgrading the available ships and boats. The border guards have recently received two new-generation, new-speed ‘Brig’ boats for Special Forces, and 27 of the ships and boats have been repaired. More than 50 ships, boats and security vessels are scheduled to be repaired this year.

“This is a very sound and correct approach”, said the Head of the State Border Guard Service, “the conscious, caring and high-quality maintenance of the legacy we have received allows us to serve and protect the border today. But we must not stop the development, we need to increase our cooperation with foreign partners, we also find support of Ukrainian manufacturers”. He expressed confidence that in near future the Maritime Guard would be replenished with new modern combat units.

Also, within the framework of his work in the southern region, the Head of the State Border Guard Service inspected the units of the Odessa Border Guard Detachment: he visited the Technical Observation Point of Hryhorivka, visited the Pivdennyi Border Guard Division stationed at the Maritime Trade Port “Yuzhnyi”, was introduced with the peculiarities of border control at the border crossing point for the international maritime cargo connection “Yuzhnyi” and the check point “Vyzyrka”.

At the port, the head of the State Border Guard Service held a working meeting with the head of the Southern Branch of the state enterprise of USPA Maxym Shyrokov. Serhii Deineko thanked Maxym Shyrokov for the assistance provided by the company, including in equipping the BGD “Pivdennyi” with modern European models and cooperation with border guards.