US helps Ukraine fend off Russia in Black Sea after most of fleet was captured with Crimea
by Abraham Mahshie, Defense Reporter
June 05, 2021 03:26 PM
The U.S. has already delivered two Island class vessels like the P-190 pictured with three more promised this year in addition to additional Mark VI patrol boats, part of a security assistance package worth $125 million.
Photo by Abraham Mahshie/ Washington ExaminerODESSA, Ukraine — The evacuation of Ukrainian ships from Crimea in March 2014 could not happen fast enough. In a political changeover that turned Ukraine away from Russia and toward the West, Russia seized the peninsula, and its Black Sea navy easily encircled Ukrainian ships, capturing 70% of the country's navy.
Seven years later, the U.S. is donating five P-190 Sloviansk class island patrol vessels and eight Mark VI patrol boats to a fledgling Ukrainian navy of no more than 30 ships. Ukraine is reconstituting its navy in order to patrol its coastlines and help counter Russia’s increased military presence in the Black Sea and the tiny Sea of Azov closed in by Crimea, Ukraine, and Russia. The 1936 Montreux Convention limits the presence of foreign navies in the Black Sea, meaning U.S. vessels must rotate out every two weeks to maintain a presence. But Black Sea nations can patrol as they wish.
“We lost Crimea temporarily, but we lost it,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the Washington Examiner in Kyiv. “We are heavily investing in basically the creation of a new Ukrainian navy.”
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/us-ukraine-fend-off-russia-black-sea-after-fleet-captured-with-crimea
