NATO's largest multinational military exercise in the history of the Black Sea was officially launched at a time when the results of Ukraine's presidential election were still uncertain. According to the Ukrainian Independent News Agency (UNIAN) report on April 5, at least 20 warships and nearly 50 aircraft from Romania, Ukraine, Turkey, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Canada and Greece completed the assembly in the Black Sea on the same day, and opened the prelude of the "Shield-19" live ammunition joint exercise. On the previous day, NATO foreign ministers agreed to further strengthen their military presence in the Black Sea, including more intensive aerial reconnaissance of Russia's "occupied areas" and borders, and more NATO warships to "protect" Ukraine in order to restore "freedom of navigation" in the Black Sea and the Kachi Strait.

According to the southern Russian military region, several battleships of the Black Sea fleet formed a sea assault group and launched missile-fired attacks on the "enemy" complex fleet about 60 kilometers away. Russian warships launched all the "white fly" (NATO called "sunburn") 3M80 supersonic heavy anti-ship missile, a single weight of nearly 4 tons, the maximum speed of 2.5 times the speed of sound. Our country is quite familiar with this type of anti-ship missile, because four modern (including improved) missile destroyers are equipped with the same type of missile. Before the new generation of anti-ship missiles, such as Eagle Strike-12 and Eagle Strike-18, came into service, the "White Sandfly" supersonic anti-ship missile was the most powerful surface warfare weapon of our navy, a Aegis destroyer capable of paralysing a ship with a drainage of more than 8000 tons.

In addition to the continuous sinking of many decommissioned warships by the Black Sea Fleet, the air defense forces of the southern Russian military area also launched more than 40 armour-S1 and beech M1-2 air defense missile systems to conduct large-scale live ammunition air defense exercises in the border areas along the Black Sea. More than 500 participating Russian soldiers fired dozens of anti-aircraft missiles in succession according to orders issued, shooting down more than 20 air targets attacked at high speed. Russian military sources said that these "enemy" targets, including fighter aircraft, helicopter gunships, unmanned aerial vehicles and cruise missiles, were locked in as soon as they entered the air defense system's farthest strike boundary, and the result became "no doubt".

A statement issued by the southern military region of Russia emphasized that both the Black Sea fleet and the air defense forces had declared the limits of the no-flight zones to the outside world in advance, so no civil or military vessels or aircraft should enter the above-mentioned zones. Among them, the entry of civil ships and aircraft will lead to misfire, while the approach of military aircraft will be regarded as threatening, and the Russian army has the right to "sink or shoot down". Russian media believe that on the same day that NATO's largest fleet held exercises in the Black Sea, the Russian army conducted such large-scale sea-air live ammunition firing exercises, warning meaning is clear and strong.

Although the United States, Britain and France and other NATO military powers did not send warships to participate in the "Shield-19 at Sea" exercise, there are analyses that NATO, with relatively weak naval power, took the lead in exploring the way for the implementation of the plan to expand the black naval presence after the naval power. In addition, although NATO's fleet is large, its air strike capability is not strong. The reason why the Russian army held large-scale air defense exercises was that a B-52H strategic bomber of the US Air Force had flown from Britain to Romania. It is also the first time in years that U.S. bombers with nuclear strike capabilities have been deployed along the Black Sea, only 400 kilometers from the Russian occupied Crimean Peninsula and less than 1,000 kilometers from Moscow.

Military experts believe that the Russian naval and air manoeuvres held in the Black Sea are not only a strong response to NATO's decision to expand its military presence in the region, but also a warning to NATO members and partners along the Black Sea. For Ukraine and Georgia, Russia's strategy is to try to prevent or delay their accession to NATO. For Romania and Bulgaria, which are already NATO members, Russia is trying to maintain strong military pressure on them.