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| Europe |
| Ukraine's Navy 'Decimated' by Russian Intervention |
| 2014-03-27 |
| [AnNahar] Ukraine's maritime forces have been severely diminished by the Russian intervention in Crimea after they lost 12 of their 17 warships to Moscow, defense analysts Jane's said Wednesday. Around 12,000 of the Ukrainian navy's 15,450 personnel were based in Crimea when Russia first intervened on February 27, and since then have lost the bulk of their assets, Jane's said in a commentary. In the port city of Sevastopol, the Russians seized two Grisha V-class frigates, a patrol vessel and a command ship, as well as Ukraine's only submarine and an ocean-going tug. Russian special forces also seized Ukraine's naval base at Novoozerne, on Crimea's northwest coast. Seven Ukrainian warships and a Natya-class minesweeper have been blockaded in the base on Lake Dunuzlov after Russia scuppered the hulks of two warships in the access channel leading to the sea. Ukraine's 10th Saski Naval Air Brigade, which controlled all of the country's maritime aviation assets, managed to get some of its aircraft and helicopters onto bases on the mainland in time. But Jane's said there will likely be problems caused by Moscow's seizure of Sevastopol Aviation Enterprise, which was responsible for the maintenance of Ukrainian naval helicopters. Ukraine's navy is now based at Odessa, with less than half a dozen large surface craft as well as several small patrol craft, Jane's said. But at least it has the Krivak III-class frigate Hetman Sagaidachny, which was returning from an anti-piracy mission in the Indian Ocean when the crisis broke. "Ukraine's navy now faces an uncertain future," the commentary said. "As well as losing the bulk of its ships, helicopters and aircraft, it headquarters building, much of the service's signals intelligence, training, administration, maintenance, and logistics infrastructure has now been lost. "This includes the service's main underground ammunition storage site at Inkermann valley, outside Sevastopol." Other military assets seized in Crimea include 39 Mig-29 fighters based at the Balbek airbase, as well as S-300 surface-to-air missiles from the Fiolent base. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #9 It's those layers of editors and fact checkers of the professional journalists. Confusing 'one in every ten' for 'over half'. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-03-27 18:23 |
| #8 Sound like a little more than "decimated". Sure wish headline writers would use the word correctly. |
| Posted by: Canuckistan sniper 2014-03-27 14:17 |
| #7 The good news is that these were Soviet-era vessels, whose RussNav successor's most valuable ships are its ocean-going tugs = salvage ships. Exactly. It's not like these are truly Ukrainian ships and it's not like the Ukrainians have any idea what to do with them. All they had, including the Crimea, is what the Russians gave them in the first place and now they're crying because the Russians took it back. I'm sorry. I just don't see the problem here. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2014-03-27 11:36 |
| #6 Ypu forget a little problem: 50% of Ukranins don't want to fight against Russia and they don't wan't to fight it because they are Ukranians only because Stalin decided the border between Soviet Republic of Russia and Soviet Republic of Ukraine would be where it is and independent Ukranian iinherited these borders. |
| Posted by: JFM 2014-03-27 11:11 |
| #5 P2K Toulon Plan, good history there. |
| Posted by: Dale 2014-03-27 09:58 |
| #4 They didn't even have a Toulon Plan. It also would have fouled the docks and harbor for years. Scorched earth. Good reason to fire the lot of them. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-03-27 08:53 |
| #3 And that is why the defense minister got sacked. It was a simple matter to order the ships to sea, to Odessa. And the aircraft in a short hop to a northern airfield. Navy hardware was not exactly state of the art, but ships are awfully expensive to replace, and they take time. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2014-03-27 08:11 |
| #2 39 MIG fighters simply turned over to the Russians, indicates a high level of collaboration on the Ukrainian side, to assist in the Russian takeover. Surely the planes could have simply been flown farther west, had there been an intention of putting up some resistance to the takeover. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2014-03-27 07:09 |
| #1 As per DEFEENCE.PK/FORUMS, the Ukraine has lost 54 of 57 naval vessels. The good news is that these were Soviet-era vessels, whose RussNav successor's most valuable ships are its ocean-going tugs = salvage ships. [INDIAN AIR FORCE, NAVY here]. This is a real opportunity for the US-West to seriously modernize the Ukrainian navy + armed forces to NATO standard. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2014-03-27 01:16 |