Ukraine to Receive Maritime Support to Deter Russia
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Ukraine will purchase US patrol boats and other equipment in order to bolster its deterrence versus Russia in the contested Kerch Strait and key ports along the Azov Sea. The U.S. State Department has cleared a potential sale to Ukraine of 16 Mark VI patrol boats and other gear worth $600 million.
“Ukraine’s military has an urgent need to strengthen its capabilities to patrol and police their EEZ, territorial waters, and protect other maritime interests due to persistent maritime threats posed by the Russia‐led forces in eastern Ukraine and surrounding waters and the credible threat of Russian conventional military maritime attack,” a US State Department official said.
The sale includes various weapons, sensors and communications gear.
For the U.S. Navy, the Mark VI is a heavily armed replacement for its Riverine Command Boat.
According to a State Department official, the sale will improve the capability of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to “sustain river and littoral water patrols throughout Ukraine’s [maritime] exclusive economic zone.”
“The 16 boats follow two boats announced earlier this month as part of the Pentagon’s package of Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funding, the official said.
Kyiv will pay for the purchase with its own funds, with support provided by the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing program.
The pending sale to Ukraine is the first of its kind since U.S. President Donald Trump was acquitted in February in congressional impeachment proceedings that centered on his administration’s freeze on military aid to Ukraine, according to defensenews.com.