The Ukrainian government has not accepted transfer of two Island-class patrol boats from the United States.
An investigation by Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe’s Schemes investigative program from March 30 suggests the delay is meant to benefit Kuznya Na Rybalskomu, a Kyiv-based shipyard owned by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The shipyard is eligible for production contracts from the country’s naval forces, the program said.
Poroshenko, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak, approached by Schemes journalists, refused to comment on the matter.
After the investigation was published, the naval forces command delivered a statement saying that the Ukrainian artillery cutters and American patrol boats had different features.
Bureaucratic ping-pong
Since the very outbreak of Russia’s invasion in Crimea in 2014, in which Ukraine lost nearly 80 percent of its fleet, the U.S. officials have been offering the two crafts to Ukraine as part of its non-paid aid under the Excess Defense Article Program (EDAP), the program’s host Natalie Sedletska said on Facebook on March 30.
She added that the transfer, as it appears from conversations with U.S. officials in Washington, “contradicts the mercenary interests of Ukraine’s leadership.”
The inquiry in the case led by the program’s journalist, Valeriya Egoshyna, discovered that the transfer had been impeded for the past three years amid the “bureaucratic ping-pong between Ukrainian government agencies,” the host noted.
“The last word is for the Cabinet of Ministers,” she wrote. “Literally, only one single governmental decree is missing.”
Within the investigation, the journalists obtained a number of official Ukrainian institutional documents showing that the U.S.-Ukrainian talks on the issue continue since 2014. As far back as in February 2015, the Ukrainian General Staff of the Armed Forces officially submitted to the U.S. Office of Defense Cooperation a letter of request to receive the mentioned patrol vessels from the U.S. Coast Guard.
Later, in 2016, Ukraine’s naval forces commander Ihor Voronchenko informed Chief of the General Staff Viktor Muzhenko that the American party was waiting for Ukraine’s official confirmation of readiness to receive the vessels.
Upon that, Schemes reported, the only thing that was still left to do for Ukrainian government is to issue a special decree authorizing the Ministry of Defense to directly approach the United States to get the transfer done.
Due to the U.S.-Ukraine defense cooperation agreement of 1993, such a transaction would not require an obligatory mediation of the UkrOboronProm, a state-run defense production concern, which is authorized to approve or recall any foreign arms deal of any Ukrainian entity.
Nevertheless, the two Island-class patrol boats still remain moored in the Baltimore haven, Schemes reported.
Cheaper vessels
Under the EDAP provisions, the military aid to Ukraine would be provided at no cost, although the Ukrainian navy would have to pay for the vessels’ de-mothballing transportation to Ukrainian shore, as well as for the crew training, and the technical renovation of the vessels.
In all, by the Scheme’s count, accepting the two 168-tons cutters built between 1985 and 1992 for Ukraine’s navy would cost nearly $10 million, while the market price for one Island boat goes up to $25 million.
Since Ukraine lost most of its fleet amid the Russian invasion of 2014, it stuck to its new strategy of forming the so-called “mosquito fleet” of small but highly maneuverable combat craft that would be possibly potent to stand against powerful battleship fleets by use of extreme mobility and advanced armament.
According to the journalists, the only Ukrainian enterprise still able to produce this type of craft is the Kuznya Na Rybalskomy owned by president Poroshenko and Ihor Kononenko, the first deputy chairman of Poroshenko’s 139-member faction in the Verkhovna Rada.
In December 2016, two Gurzas produced by the Kuznya joined the navy, and the shipyard was expected to provide four more already built cutters to the Ukrainian fleet command in the nearest future.
In general, Ukrainian navy was reported to seek as many as 20 Gurzas produced under a military contract through 2020, with one item costing Ukraine’s defense budget at least $30 million.
However, the Schemes said, ascertaining an exact price tag turns out impossible due to nearly total secrecy in the country’s defense production.
Besides, the journalists said, the Ukrainian-made 54-tons Gurzas appear to be weaker than American Island-class vessels in all basic parameters despite their considerably higher price. In Ukraine, building a cutter that would equal the power of an Island-class boat would cost $27-35 million.
Thus, the Schemes said, the Ukrainian government had been dragging on the transfer from the United States in order to avoid the Navy’s need for small combat vessels and possibly reduce the defense contract for Poroshenko-owned production in Kyiv.
The Presidential Administration of Ukraine declined to comment on the case, telling the Schemes journalists that it was not involved in the production of military hardware for Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
The Kuznya Na Rybalskomy and the Ministry of Defense referred to the confidentiality of the issue as part of the classified state defense procurement.
However, later on March 30, the naval forces command said in a statement that the Ukrainian artillery cutters and American patrol boats had different functional features. According to the message, Schemes deliberately ignored the explanations by the fleet representatives in order to enforce their storyline of the contradiction between the Gurza-Ms and the Island-class cutters.
Therefore, the navy command added, Ukraine’s naval forces still need both types of small vessels to strengthen its combat potential.
“Having received an exhaustive answer from the Defense Ministry leadership on the issue, the journalist failed to understand that the publication of confidential information in defense was beneficial for the aggressor,” the allegation read.
