Britain Makes Deal to Supply Warships, Build Naval Bases for Ukraine as NATO Prepares to Conduct Black Sea War Games with Kiev - FARS

 (FNA)- Ukraine announced that it will be expanding its already extensive naval cooperation with Britain, with the two countries signing a joint memorandum which will see the UK design and construct ships and bases for Kiev.

The announcement comes eight months after Ukraine signed a £1.25 billion ($1.7 billion) deal with the UK for eight Barzan-class fast-attack missile boats, agreed to when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited London, RT reported.

The agreement also comes a week before the Ukrainian Navy is due to conduct war games with NATO ships in the Black Sea, as part of Exercise Sea Breeze 2021.

The latest memorandum means that Ukraine and the UK will soon cooperate on the joint design and construction of warships. Furthermore, Britain will assist Kiev in rebuilding its shipbuilding industry and help Ukraine break ground on two new naval bases.

As part of the deal, Britain is obliged to transfer two Sandown-class minehunters to the Ukrainian Navy. The boats, currently in service in the British, Saudia Arabian, and Estonian navies, are small but effective vessels with mine-hunting sonar and mine-disposal equipment. In 2021, the UK decided it would decommission all Sandown-class ships and replace them with automated systems. Instead, two will be sent to Kiev.

The agreement was finalized on the HMS Defender, a British air-defense destroyer that arrived in Odessa last week, and was signed by Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Alexander Mironyuk and British Minister for Defence Procurement Jeremy Quin.

The new deal between the two countries will provide a much-needed boost for the Ukrainian Navy, which lost a significant part of its capability following Russia’s 2014 reabsorption of Crimea. With the loss of the Crimean port of Sevastopol, Kiev lost most of its naval infrastructure, as well as a large chunk of its personnel, who changed loyalties as their home peninsula came under control of Moscow.

Following the decision to freeze $100-million-worth of military aid due to be sent to Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry has accused the US of acting immorally in its policy towards Kiev, and playing games for its own benefit.

According to Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Washington’s decision to keep the money, despite once pledging it, shows how the US is manipulating both the citizens and leadership of Ukraine. When the support was initially proposed, it benefited Washington. A few months later, the situation has changed, and the US immediately changed its mind.

“This is a classic game with Ukraine on the part of the US,” Zakharova said, adding, “It is maneuvering and flirting. This [has been] a constant deception of the citizens of Ukraine for many years.”

The spokeswoman’s statement comes after the White House denied temporarily freezing an aid package to Kiev worth up to $100 million. According to the publication POLITICO, Washington pledged the money earlier this spring, following a military build-up on both sides of the Ukraine-Russia border. The package was due to include “short-range air defense systems, small arms, and more anti-tank weapons”, it was reported. However, shortly before the landmark summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart, Joe Biden, last week, the White House allegedly put the package on hold.

After POLITICO published its claim that the aid had been halted, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan claimed the money had not been withdrawn, but was simply being kept “in reserve”.

“So, it’s there, and the Russians know it’s there, and the Ukrainians know it’s there, but the idea that we have withheld any security assistance from Ukraine is simply nonsense,” Sullivan told Fox News on Sunday.

According to Zakharova, the decision to hold back the cash “in reserve” is “another example” of Washington’s duplicitous dealings with Kiev.