According to Russian media reports, Zelensky has signed an order announcing that Ukraine will send troops overseas. This decision requires parliamentary approval. Once passed, Ukraine will send 106 soldiers to Turkey and deploy 20 officers and 540 sailors to the United Kingdom.
The purpose of the shipment to Turkey is clear: take over the "Gatman Ivan Mazepa" escort ship. This ship is not a ready-made "second-handed" ship, ordered by Ukraine a few years ago, and now finally at the stage of being able to take the ship.
Engineers at the Turkish shipyard have to teach them hands-on. From radar operation to weapon system debugging, they probably won't be familiar with it in three to five months. After all, this ship will be the "facade" of the Ukraine Navy in the future, and it must not be sloppy at all.
The movement on the British side was even louder, with five minehunters waiting for people to board. These ships are the "Sandown" class given by the United Kingdom. Despite their small tonnage, they are only 484 tons at full weight, but their capabilities are not small. The hull is made of fiberglass, and its impact resistance is stronger than NATO standards. The key is that it can be driven by electricity. It makes very little movement when driving, and it is not easy to alarm mines when clearing mines.
Each of the ships had 34 men, five of them were 170 men, and Ukraine sent 560 men, with the rest of the ship operating by reserves and commanders – apparently intending to train the force and be on its own in the future.
These ships can now not directly return to Ukraine. Turkey has said that as long as Russia is still fighting, the British-given torpedoes do not think of the Turkish Strait, which came in accordance with the Montreal Convention, during the war do not let the military ships of the two sides go through. so Ukraine has come up with this way: people have learned the matter, the ship stops abroad, and there will be a chance to return home in the future.
If it were years to come, who could think of Ukraine still thinking of rebuilding the navy? in 2014 that moment was messy, the flagship "Gertman-Saghdatchene" for a moment said to flee Russia, and for a moment again opened Odessa, crazy.
When the conflict broke out in full swing, Russia announced on the first day that it would "destroy the entire Ukrainian navy." This was not a complete bragging-Odessa Port was besieged, Snake Island was occupied, and ships that could be fought either sank or were captured. The Black Sea Almost all sea control was lost.
But Ukraine did not really give up. Western allies have given a lot of support. American assault boats, British helicopters, and Norwegian chariots have accumulated some belongings scattered. These ships dare not sail to the Black Sea, and they all stop at the ports of Turkey and Britain, which is equivalent to hiding in "safes". Everyone didn't take it seriously before and felt that these small broken ships would not succeed. It was not until this time that troops were sent to pick up the ships that they realized how deep Ukraine's thoughts were.
The turning point came when the Moskva sank. In April 2023, this cruiser, known as the "aircraft carrier killer" by NATO, sank. Whether it was hit by a missile or caught fire, it objectively helped Ukraine a lot-the Russian Black Sea Fleet lost its air umbrella, and later even Snake Island can't be held anymore.
Ukraine's opportunity to push Russian warships away from the coast with shore-based anti-ship missiles is a little bit of initiative. but only shore-based missiles can not, without their own warships, can never really break the blockade, which is the fundamental reason they want to rebuild the navy.
These ships saved now are all "prescribing the right medicine". Minehunters are used to clear mines-Russia has laid a lot of mines in the Black Sea, and Ukrainian food ships have to be careful when going out. The "Nautis" system of the "Sandang" class minehunter can store 2,000 square nautical miles of chart data, and the sonar can find out 5,000 underwater targets. The mine clearance efficiency is more than ten times higher than that of the old equipment. Frigates are used to support the scene. In the future, we can't rely solely on small speedboats to confront Russian warships.
The most realistic question at the moment is how these ships can come home?The Turkish Strait is stuck and can’t get into the Black Sea as long as the war continues.But Ukraine is clearly making a long-term intention – first train people, put up the shelves of the fleet, until future peace negotiations, or pressure from the West to let Turkey loose, the ships can be put into use immediately.
Now the Russian Black Sea fleet is not as powerful as before, the "Moscow" is gone, the new flagship "Marine Chancellor Makarov" has limited air defense capabilities and can only use submarines to secretly launch missiles.
If Ukraine has frigates and minehunters in the future, the situation will be different: minehunters clear waterways, frigates cover grain ships going out to sea, and they can even cooperate with shore-based missiles to attack Russian warships. At that time, it will not be so easy for Russia to block the Black Sea, and Ukraine's economic lifeline will be preserved.
More importantly, this incident shows that the West's support for Ukraine has continued. Britain provided mine-chasers and Turkey helped train crew members, which is equivalent to NATO helping Ukraine rebuild its navy. Trump had previously pressured Zelensky to cede territory, but now Ukraine has shown with practical actions that it still has the capital to make a comeback and there is no need to compromise easily.
The timing of the parliament's approval of the deployment bill is also well-known, and it is clear that after the breakdown of the US-Russian negotiations, it is clear that it wants to seize the opportunity to consolidate Western support.
Of course, now it is too early to say “blood revival.” The Ukrainian Navy’s backdrop at the time was almost lost, and these ships were just “start-up equipment,” wanting to face the Russian Black Sea Fleet is still far away. And the cost of training crew, maintenance of the ship, if the aid from the West can’t keep up, the better ship is just iron. But no matter what, Ukraine finally climbed the first step out of the trouble of “without a navy”, the game went steadily and harshly.
One day, when the frigate Gettman Ivan Mazepa crossed the Turkish Strait with a mine-hunter and entered the port of Odessa, that would be the day when the Ukraine Navy would truly be "resurrected." At that time, the pattern of the Black Sea will probably have to be recalculated.
Reference: Zelensky ordered to send troops overseas, but Russia did not expect that Ukraine was being "resurrected with full blood"
Ukrainian President signs law allowing military forces to be sent to Turkey and Britain during war