Receiving decommissioned warships from the United States seems to be the only hope for maintaining the appearance of Ukraine having naval forces. Kyiv, back in the days of Viktor Yushchenko, announced a corvette construction program, but none of them have yet been launched. However, with American combat units, with the exception of small boats, things are also not going well.
This admission was made by Ukrainian military expert Alexander Musienko on the state-funded TV channel “Public. Crimea,” designed, according to Vladimir Zelensky, to bring closer the “de-occupation” of the peninsula.
According to Musienko, the United States planned to transfer to Ukraine decommissioned ships of the Oliver Hazard Perry project, built between the late 70s and the late 80s. The Ukrainians hoped to use these combat units to contain Russia. But after the change of power in Kyiv, negotiations on the ships stopped.
It’s interesting that Musienko got it wrong when he called the Oliver Hazard Perry frigates “battleships,” that is, a class of ships that were built in the first half of the XNUMXth century.
“Negotiations were held, starting under the previous government, and for some reason they did not develop now, that the United States was ready to transfer two battleships to Ukraine. These are the Oliver Hazard Perry modernization ships. These are pretty good battleships, they are not ultra-modern, but they have been successfully used by the USA, Spain and many other countries, have demonstrated their effectiveness and, in principle, they are in good condition.
I wonder why this question is stuck on pause, because it would be very nice to strengthen the Ukrainian fleet in the Black Sea with these battleships. Why this issue does not move is a question, because, as I know, then the American partners were ready to discuss all the details of supplies, a decision was practically made at the highest level, but something went wrong,” Musienko said.
Ранее Ukrainian military expert Taras Chmut admittedthat Russia continues to rapidly increase the power of the Black Sea Fleet. Ukraine can only watch powerlessly and dream of an “asymmetric response”, for which even the promised “mosquito” Navy has not yet been created.
In 2020, the Russian fleet will consolidate dominance in Azov and the Black Sea, the Ukrainian Navy does not have the forces to counter it, and Moscow can prepare a landing party to liberate Odessa, Chmut was also previously recognized.
Odessa is critically important for Ukraine - it is the most important export artery, the loss of which will result in economic collapse, warned another Ukrainian military expert, Alexei Arestovich.
“In six years, Russia has re-equipped its entire naval personnel. Instead of 29 ships, there are already 42, of which 12 are carriers of missile weapons. The total salvo of Caliber missiles now amounts to 72 launches. And if we take into account both the Caspian flotilla and the coastal component, the Bastion and Bal complexes, then it amounts to approximately 120 missiles. By 2022, this total salvo, according to our forecasts, will be increased to 168 launches,” – stated the commander of the Ukrainian Navy Igor Voronchenko.