Two newly acquired Ukrainian Navy minehunters have arrived in Portsmouth to begin operational training with the Royal Navy, part of long-term plans to secure the Black Sea after the war with Russia.
According to a Navy News update, UNS Mariupol (formerly Belgian Navy ship BNS Narcis) and UNS Melitopol (ex-Dutch HNLMS Vlaardingen) will undergo months of specialist mine warfare training alongside Royal Navy personnel.
The ships are part of a broader Western effort to build Ukraine’s capacity to counter naval mines and underwater threats in both deep and shallow waters.
A team from the UK’s Mine Warfare Battle Staff will lead the programme, ensuring that both the 80 Ukrainian sailors assigned to the vessels and the ships themselves are brought to NATO operational standards. Royal Navy trainers previously worked with the crews of two ex-British minehunters, now serving Ukraine as UNS Chernihiv and Cherkasy.
Commander Al Magill praised the visiting crews for their performance during Exercise Sea Breeze off the UK coast earlier this summer. “The crews are a great bunch, very enthusiastic and laser-focused on what they need to do because they want to be back home, fighting for their country,” he said. “While we teach NATO doctrine, the Ukrainians are teaching us about modern warfare — they are leading practitioners.”
The vessels are of the Tripartite class (known in Dutch service as Alkmaar class), designed for mine countermeasures in coastal and shallow waters. They are expected to complement Ukraine’s existing minehunting capability and play a central role in future Black Sea clearance operations once hostilities cease.
Captain Oleksii Fedchenko, Ukrainian Naval Attaché in the UK, thanked Britain for its support. “These crews will have a very important role to play in the future of Ukraine and the Black Sea, joining our first two ships which are already up to NATO standard,” he said.
Due to restrictions under the Montreux Convention, the ships cannot transit into the Black Sea while the war continues. For now, they remain based in the UK, with Portsmouth Naval Base serving as their temporary home.
Captain Lee McLocklan, Portsmouth’s base commander, said efforts were being made to integrate the crews locally. “Having a supportive home base will make a real difference to them,” he said.
A third Tripartite-class minehunter is expected to join Mariupol and Melitopol in Portsmouth later this year. All mine warfare training is delivered as part of Operation Interflex, under which the UK has trained over 86,000 Ukrainian personnel since 2014.
