Watercraft

It is US military vessels and not Russia's airplanes that pose a problem in the Black Sea, Russia's Ambassador to Bulgaria Yury Isakov said on Friday.

US Destroyer Donald Cook is to enter the Black Sea on April 10, Pentagon officials said.

The news came days after the White House announced its plans to extend the Black Sea mission of USS Truxtun, the first destroyer it sent there in March, and to deploy additional vessels.

The US is sending a second destroyer into the Black Sea as a gesture of support for Ukraine and other allies.

A US senior defense official was quoted by NBC News as saying that the USS Donald Cook, a guided missile destroyer based in Spain, could be in the Black Sea "in the next week or so".

The US navy extended the mission of the USS Truxtun in the Black Sea, reports Bulgaria's public broadcaster BNT.

The reason are the tensions in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea by Russia. 

The guided-misslie destroyer, which is based in Greece, sailed in the Black Sea in March to participate in a joint military exercise of the navies of Bulgaria, Romania and the US.

Eight Chinese crew members are missing and one is in a critical condition after two cargo ships collided off Japan, Tuesday.

The Panamanian-flagged Beagle III vessel crashed into the South Korean-registered Pegasus Prime, causing it to sink, the CNN reports.

Joint naval exercises with Bulgarian, Romanian and US vessels are to take place in the Black Sea on March 11.

The naval forces of all three nations have stated no connection between the upcoming drill and the tensions on Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet is based, the Bulgarian National Radio has reported.

The U.S. guided-missile destroyer Truxtun is bound for the Black Sea for military exercises with Bulgarian and Romanian naval forces. 

According to the US military publication Stars and Stripes, the ship departed from Greece early Thursday and its visit is unrelated to the current events in Ukraine.