9 November 2016.
We may think that Canada has it tough in terms of defence procurement and naval capability, but imagine if two-thirds of the Canadian fleet was lost when a chunk of territory was annexed by another state. This is what happened to the Ukrainian Navy when Russia took Crimea in 2014. Russia used to lease facilities from Ukraine to house the Black Sea Fleet, which has been based in Sevastopol, Crimea, for two centuries. But not any more. With the annexation of Crimea, no more rent payments! And Ukraine lost much of its navy. Now it’s starting to rebuild. See Eric Haun, “Ukraine Rebuilding Navy with US Help,” http://www.marinelink.com/news/rebuilding-ukraine-navy417798
