In Vlissingen, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister of the Netherlands Rob Jetten met with Ukrainian servicemembers training on the mine countermeasure vessel Zr. Ms. Makkum.
The ship’s captain briefed the President and the Prime Minister on how the training of Ukrainian personnel is being conducted. The crew operates various types of underwater drones to detect, identify, and neutralize mines. A significant number of sailors have real combat experience, including at sea.
The Netherlands will fully train the crew and will transfer the vessel to Ukraine as early as June. It will be named “Henichesk” in honor of a vessel that Ukraine lost while it was carrying out a combat mission in June 2022 near the Kinburn Spit. The ship is expected to take part in the Sea Breeze exercise in 2027.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Rob Jetten for the assistance and training of our defenders and separately noted the high quality of military training.
The Head of State awarded the Order of Merit, III class, to Chief of Defence of the Netherlands Onno Eichelsheim and presented the medals “For Military Service to Ukraine” and “To the Defender of the Motherland” to seven Ukrainian servicemembers.
This vessel is already the fifth that Ukraine will receive. The first four were transferred by the United Kingdom, Belgium, and the Netherlands. They are named “Cherkasy,” “Chernihiv,” “Mariupol,” and “Melitopol.” Two of them are of the Sandown class, and the other two, like the future “Henichesk,” are of the Alkmaar class.
All five vessels will be based in the United Kingdom for now and, after the war, will take part in mine clearance operations and significantly strengthen the capabilities of the Ukrainian Navy.
