Two mine action vessels are preparing to be sent to the Black Sea
The British fleet has said goodbye to the ships, which will soon be transferred to Ukraine. The British flag was launched on two anti-mine ships and ready to cross into the Black Sea. The command of the Ukrainian Navy expects to strengthen its composition by supplementing, but experts are skeptical about new acquisitions of Kiev. MK found out what was wrong with British ships.
Photo: defenceimagery.mod.uk.
NATO is paying increased attention to the Black Sea region. In the Black Sea, military exercises are regularly held with the participation of warships and aircraft. US, UK and other bloc reconnaissance aircraft fly off the coast of Russia almost every day. The Alliance says it sees this as a challenge in the fight against Russia's “aggressive actions” in the region.
The NATO Strategy pays special attention to the Black Sea countries: Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and also & ndash; Georgia and Ukraine. In this regard, a number of NATO countries support Ukraine in reorganizing the country's naval forces.
Kiev wants to significantly increase the number of warships in the navy by 2030, which should become a counterweight to the Russian Black Sea Fleet. To this end, Ukraine ordered warships from Turkish shipyards and also demanded obsolete and discarded equipment in the United States and Great Britain.
In London, Ukraine offered two Sandown-class mine action ships. A farewell to two ships took place at the British naval base Clyde on Thursday & ndash; HMS Blyth and HMS Ramsey. British flags were launched on them and the ships were ready to pass into the Black Sea.
It was previously reported that Ukraine will receive maritime equipment for free. However, according to the latest information, more than $ 50 million will have to be paid for each ship. Kiev states that this price fully justifies the benefits for the Ukrainian Navy.
However, as stated in an interview with MK military expert Alexander Mikhailovsky, the optimism of the Ukrainian leadership may soon fade. According to the expert purchased boats & ndash; not at all what Ukraine needs, and in the near future may hang on the budget of the armed forces Nezalezhnaya. own weight.
& ndash; I immediately remember the epic with British Saxon armored vehicles, which Ukraine acquired in 2014. The fact that this is an excellent military project, there were so many lavish materials that modern weapons, lasers, rangefinders will now be installed on these beautiful machines that it is only a guarantee of victory over the “ occupiers“ … In Russia, it was already clear in advance that this agreement was clearly not in favor of Ukraine, that the British would simply throw garbage in Kiev, and even for a lot of money. And what is the end result? These “ Saxons & # 39; & # 39; were already partially out of order before they reached the queue. So no one saw them in the battle. There will be a similar story with these ships.
& ndash; Everyone swam for 20 years. If properly repaired, this is the normal life of the boat. The point is that Ukraine simply does not need them. These are mining action ships. And who is the enemy that benefits the Black Sea for Ukraine? Show me where they want to use them. The only case of loss of a ship by the Ukrainian Navy at the mine & nbsp; & ndash; it is also a story from 2014. There, however, it turned out that they had placed the mine themselves because they were afraid that no one knew whose landing from the sea. So the main question of this whole story is: why?
& ndash; There is one Ukrainian proverb: “ To Toby, God, sho is not good for me. & # 39; & # 39; This is it. The British Navy felt that it did not need ships and successfully pushed them away. These are not warships. With conditional enemy dominance at sea and in the air & ndash; what is it for them? Just a floating target. Turns out they wanted to be like an old woman in Pushkin's & nbsp; & ndash; lady of the sea. And in the end we were left with only one gutter, but two. That's the whole story.