Ukraine conflict: Ukraine scuttles navy's lone frigate

Ukraine flooded its lone frigate, the Project 1135.1 Krivak III-class ship Hetman Sagaidachny, to avoid its use by the Russian Navy, Ukraine's defence minister has confirmed.

In a statement on his Facebook social media page on 4 March, Minister of Defence Oleksii Reznikov said the 123.5 m long vessel, which was under repairs, was ordered to be flooded. He did not provide details of when the ship was flooded.

Satellite imagery accessed by Janes shows that the frigate was last spotted pierside in Mykolaiv on 13 February 2022. The frigate was under repairs under a contract signed in late 2021 by the State Research and Design Shipbuilding Centre (SRDSC) and Ukrainian Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Several Ukrainian enterprises, including the state research and production complex Zorya-Mashproekt, Nikolayev shipyard, and the shipbuilding and ship repair plant Nibulon, were involved in the modernisation of the ship. SRDSC director Vadym Borysov had previously stated that no enterprise had performed work of this size and complexity for ships of this class during the entire period of Ukraine's independence. The modernisation would have extended the service life of the three-decades-old ship by another 10 years.

Satellite imagery captured on 26 February also confirms damage to the Ochakiv naval base from Russian military strikes. In the satellite imagery, the Ukrainian Navy's Project 1124P Grisha-class corvette Vinnitsa was spotted pierside at the base. However, while the damage was visible to a pierside building and a floating barge, damage to the vessel could not be confirmed from the imagery.

Meanwhile, Russian forces are advancing towards the Black Sea coastal city of Mykolaiv following the capture of Kherson, the New York Times