30 May 2026
(PHOTOS: Suspilne)
The third annual Black Sea Security Forum, the largest security forum in the Black Sea region, kicked off in Odesa on May 29.
According to the Suspilne media outlet, this year's event is being held at the Odesa National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater and has brought together more than 1,200 participants from Ukraine, Europe, and the United States.
Among the U.S. representatives is Mark Bence, who is called Donald Trump'spastor. According to the organizers, his visit is related to supporting Ukraine and participating in discussions on peace and security.
John Mark Burns is an American evangelical minister, televangelist and politician who is the pastor of Harvest Praise & Worship Center in South Carolina. He was an early supporter of Donald Trump during the 2016 United States presidential election, and served on the board of the organization Pastors for Trump until 2023. Burns ran unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives in South Carolina's Fourth Congressional District in 2018 and 2022. He also ran unsuccessfully for the third congressional district in the 2024 elections. He is a co-founder of the NOW television network.
Other guests of the forum included U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Mark Kelly, Congressman Jim Himes, and Chargé d 'Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine Julie Davis.
Among other things, the online forum featured former U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Keith Kellogg, who said that all of Russia's threats to strike somewhere with nuclear weapons are bluff, although he noted that he was not 100% sure, and also expressed confidence that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko 's threats of repeated attacks on Kyiv are an attempt to put pressure on Ukraine.
The Black Sea Security Forum is an annual international forum held in Odesa to discuss current security challenges, economic and political issues in the Black Sea region. The forum was initiated in 2024 by a group of Ukrainian MPs, becoming the first and largest geopolitical event in southern Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
The forum also featured statements on the development of modern warfare and defense technologies. In particular, Vladyslav Sobolevsky, an adviser to the commander of the Third Army Corps, Andriy Biletsky, said that by the end of 2026, the corps plans to replace about 30% of infantry with ground robotic systems to reduce personnel losses.
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