Ukraine war: Russia utilises Ukrainian boats of prey

Russia wants to guard the ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol with armoured gunboats from the Ukrainian navy

Several armoured gunboats that were in service with the Ukrainian navy and were confiscated during the Russian "special military operation" in Ukraine are now being used to guard the ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol. However, their technology must first be restored.

It is not yet known whether the ships will continue their service with the maritime units of the Russian Border Guard or with the Black Sea Fleet. The official Russian news agency Tass reported that it had not yet been able to officially confirm the information at the time of publication.

Before the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, the Ukrainian navy had around 25 warships, including five patrol boats and six gunboats, as well as the small landing craft "Svatove" and the anti-sabotage boat "Gola Pristan".

The Ukrainian navy also has up to 9 armoured gunboats, one of which was left behind by its crew in Berdyansk. The headquarters of the Ukrainian naval forces was located in Sevastopol in Crimea until the Crimean crisis in 2014.

Ships that did not escape to Ukrainian harbours in 2014, or were not in use at the time, had their flags cancelled and were interned. Although Russia began returning the ships in 2015, it stopped this shortly afterwards on the grounds that Ukraine was not in a position to repossess and maintain the ships. Russia also feared that there could be violence against Russians in the Donbass. The ships that were returned in 2014 were almost exclusively units from the former joint fleet that were considered obsolete. For example, Russia did not return the submarine corvettes "Ternopil" and "Lutsk" (Grisha class) to Ukraine because they were both among the newest ships in the Ukrainian fleet.