Ukraine, UK Expand Mine Warfare Cooperation

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham met Ukrainian and British sailors at Portsmouth Naval Base on July 27, where five Ukrainian mine countermeasures vessels are stationed during the war. The vessels are expected to support mine-clearance operations in Ukrainian maritime waters after the conflict ends.

The leaders discussed the sailors’ training during this year’s Sea Breeze exercises, which focused on planning, command and control for mine-countermeasures operations. Training also included preparation for crews of the five vessels and underwater demining teams. Twenty countries participated in the exercises, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Türkiye.

Ukraine’s Mine Action Headquarters of the 1st Mine Countermeasures Division successfully completed a NATO Level 2 evaluation during the exercises, according to the Ukrainian president’s office. The assessment enabled a Ukrainian unit to be integrated into NATO’s command-and-control system for standing mine-countermeasures forces.

Zelenskyy and Burnham also toured the Ukrainian vessel Cherkasy, a Sandown-class minehunter transferred by the UK in 2023. They were shown several unmanned systems, including the British Windracers ULTRA cargo drone, Portugal’s TEKEVER AR3 EVO reconnaissance platform and the British Kraken K3 Scout uncrewed surface vessel.