President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Andy Burnham met with Ukrainian and British sailors at Portsmouth Naval Base, where five Ukrainian mine countermeasures vessels are also based: Melitopol, Mariupol, Henichesk, Cherkasy, and Chernihiv. All of them will remain based there until the end of the war, after which they will be able to carry out mine clearance operations in Ukraine's maritime waters.
"I know people here in Portsmouth have great respect for our servicemen and women, especially our sailors. Thank you all for that," the Head of State said.
The leaders spoke with the service members about their training as part of the Sea Breeze program – an annual Ukrainian-American multinational exercise held since 1997.
This year's training focused on planning, command and control during mine countermeasures operations, preparing the crews of five mine countermeasures vessels, and training underwater demining teams. In total, 20 partner countries took part: Ukraine, the United States, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, Georgia, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Italy, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Norway, Poland, Romania, Türkiye, France, Sweden, and Japan.
During the exercises, the Mine Action Headquarters of the 1st Mine Countermeasures Division of the Ukrainian Navy successfully completed the NATO Level 2 evaluation. As a result, for the first time, a Ukrainian unit was integrated into NATO's command and control system for standing mine countermeasures forces.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Andy Burnham also went aboard one of Ukraine's mine countermeasures vessels, Cherkasy. This Sandown-class minehunter, together with Chernihiv, was transferred to Ukraine by the United Kingdom in January 2023. They were named in honor of the naval minesweepers that resisted during Russia's occupation of Crimea in 2014.
The other three vessels are Alkmaar-class, two of which were transferred to Ukraine by the Netherlands and one by Belgium. During his visit to the Netherlands in April this year, the Head of State met with the crew of Henichesk while they were undergoing training. In June, the vessel was formally commissioned into the Ukrainian Navy.
In addition, the leaders were shown the British Windracers ULTRA drone, with a range of up to 2,000 kilometers, designed to transport ammunition, military equipment, and medical supplies over long distances; the Portuguese TEKEVER AR3 EVO multi-purpose unmanned aerial system, which performs reconnaissance, target acquisition, communications relay, and electronic warfare missions and is actively used by Ukrainian service members; and the British Kraken K3 Scout uncrewed surface vessel, capable of operating autonomously for up to 30 days and carrying payloads of up to 600 kilograms.
