UK to Provide Ukraine with Ships for Demining

The British Navy will provide Ukraine with two ships to search for and destroy sea mines. The ships are to enhance security in the Black Sea, the British Ministry of Defence reports.

Ukraine will purchase the ships with funds from the UK Export Credit Agency. In addition to the minesweepers, the statement said, the United Kingdom will create a maritime coalition with Norway, providing ships and vehicles to strengthen Ukraine's defence capabilities in the Black Sea.

"The new Maritime Capability Coalition will coordinate the support that the UK, Norway and other countries are providing to Ukraine. In the long term, it will help Ukraine transform its navy into a NATO-compliant one and strengthen security in the Black Sea," said British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps.

Shapps added that the minehunter ships would make the Black Sea safer for large vessels, opening up export routes that had been severely restricted by Russia's invasion.

According to the ministry, Ukraine will receive two Sandown Class minesweepers. The vessels will be purchased through the UK Export Credit Agency. The sole purpose of this class of ships is to search for and destroy sea mines using remotely operated search vehicles. They also have anti-aircraft and anti-submarine weapons. At the same time, Sandown minesweepers do not have any mine trawling equipment. Their maximum speed is about 24 km/h.

The United Kingdom and Norway, along with other international partners, have already helped train hundreds of Ukrainian marines and are committed to continuing this work, the statement added.

Reference: A minesweeper is a special purpose warship whose main task is to search for, detect and destroy sea mines.

The United Kingdom is one of the main partners providing military assistance to Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression. One of the latest "transfers" was Martlet missiles. They are effective in the fight against entire groups of attack drones, including Iranian Shaheds, which Russia uses in its war against Ukraine.

In November, the state budget of Ukraine received about $400 million under the guarantee of the United Kingdom through the World Bank Trust Fund. The money will be used to pay pensions and salaries to healthcare workers.

As The Gaze previously reported, in early December, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron announced a new winter humanitarian aid package for Ukraine in the amount of almost £37 million (over UAH 1.7 billion). This money is part of the total amount of humanitarian aid from the UK to Ukraine of £127 million for 2023-2024.