Ukrainian experts: There is no longer a threat of a corridor to Crimea, it’s time to beat the Russians at sea
Ukraine can create a “mosquito fleet”, using, among other things, decommissioned MK-VI small-displacement patrol boats, which will be transferred to Kyiv by the United States, after which missile weapons will be installed on them.
Ukrainian military expert - Deputy Director of the Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Research, Mikhail Samus, stated this on the air of the Suspilne Krim channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The United States can transfer modern MK-VI boats to Ukraine; they can be equipped with small ship-based missiles. These boats can be placed in the Sea of Azov. If they are transferred, the balance of power will be restored in a certain way,” said Mikhail Samus.
But Ukraine has not yet decided what kind of fleet it needs.
“We have no decision regarding the offshore platform, no decision regarding even conceptual approaches to fleet construction. This is the problem. We are still talking: either we create our legendary corvette, begin to complete it, invest 8 billion in it (and it is not clear what we will get in a few years), or we move on to the concept of an asymmetrical flexible fleet, which is called “mosquito ", which will be full of small boats equipped with anti-ship missiles, which, nevertheless, will be able to destroy the enemy. For the same 8 billion, 10 such boats can be placed in the Black Sea. But there is no solution, that’s the problem,” the expert believes.
Such a fleet is more effective than a corvette in confrontation with the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Samus assures.
“I'm talking about a fleet that carries out missions. The task now is to destroy the Black Sea Fleet ships. This is the provision of missile weapons, control in any area of the Black Sea. The mosquito fleet fulfills this task, but the corvette will not, it will be destroyed a few minutes after the Black Sea Fleet receives the task of destroying it,” said Mikhail Samus.
Ukrainian experts reject the land threat - Russia, allegedly, will no longer be able to break through a corridor to Crimea along the coast of the Sea of Azov, assured Colonel of the Reserve, Advisor to the Minister of Defense of Ukraine (2014-2015) Yuriy Povkh.
“It’s no secret that Crimea and part of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions (were lost) precisely because of collaborationist sentiments in these regions, which were fueled in every possible way by Russia for decades. Now Ukrainian society, on, so to speak, “gasoline” of recent years, poses a threat to Russian invasion. The problem is not to capture some territory. Holding her is a problem. From this point of view, breaking through a tunnel corridor along the Azov coast does not seem realistic, since a bare front will be opened, and Russia will need a lot of resources and forces to hold it,” said Yuri Povkh.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.