The Ukrainian government has approved a draft agreement with Britain on the transfer of decommissioned warships and equipment for naval bases, writes the Economic News portal.
The agreement between Kiev and London provides for a loan of £1.25 billion ($1.6 billion) to Ukraine for ten years to purchase decommissioned ships from the UK for their subsequent repair.
The so-called Ukraine’s Naval Capability Enhancement Program (UNCEP) was launched back in October 2020. As part of the agreement between Ukraine and Britain, London will provide two minesweepers: HMS Ramsey and HMS Blyth, which were in use for 20 years and were decommissioned by the British Navy.
The captain of the icebreakers “Lenin” and “Russia” Alexander Barinov, commenting to the Moskovsky Komsomolets portal, noted that the purchase of old ships by Ukraine instead of building new ones indicates its technical deficiency. Earlier it became known that London handed over to Kiev a thirty-year-old icebreaker “James Clark Ross”.