Lupakov: The US should also give Ukraine submarines
It would be important for Ukraine to negotiate with the United States on transfer of not only frigates, but submarines to fight Russian submarines in the Black Sea.
Representative of the Union of Officers of Ukraine Evgeniy Lupakov told PolitNavigator about this.
“Except for Sagaidachny, the Muscovites did not return anything to us; Sagaidachny did not fall into their clutches. Our combat effectiveness at sea is relative. Therefore, two more frigates would be wonderful.
America transferred eight submarines to Turkey after World War II. They were in service with Turkey until the mid-90s. I was on one of these submarines in 1995, and I was amazed at what an ideal condition it was in, I mean technical condition and state of combat readiness.
Now the United States is putting into operation new and new military equipment, and the old one can be transferred. It is very good that our government finally negotiated the transfer of two boats. The Americans saw that Ukraine showed practical interest in obtaining naval equipment, and it is very good that the Americans agreed to this.
And it would be even better if not only the United States, but also other NATO countries gave us military equipment. First of all, we need submarines. To fight Russian submarines in the Black Sea, we urgently need submarines, at least project 209, which have already been decommissioned and are being disposed of.
It would be better if they gave them to us instead, and we would teach our sailors. This would be the only weapon to fight Russian submarines in the Black Sea; unfortunately, there are no other weapons to fight them yet,” says Lupakov.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.