Moscow, January 23 – Two-thirds of the remaining Ukrainian Navy ships in Sevastopol since 2014 have already been cut up for scrap metal or used as target practice, according to a source in the peninsula’s law enforcement agencies. Earlier, the source reported that the remaining ships of the Ukrainian Naval Forces in Sevastopol would not be transferred to the Black Sea Fleet. “All Ukrainian ships that remained in Sevastopol after 2014 will be scrapped. The process is already in full swing, with about two-thirds of them either already cut up for scrap metal or shot at as targets during missile firings,” the agency’s source said. He noted that the scrapping is taking place in Inkerman (a suburb of Sevastopol), where this enterprise has been operating since Soviet times. In 2014, after the reunification of Crimea with Russia, the Ukrainian Navy left about 20 ships on the peninsula, including the BDK “Konstantin Olshansky,” the corvettes “Ternopil” and “Lutsk,” the command ship “Slavutych,” and others. Until 2023, these ships were under protection in Sevastopol. Prior to the reunification of Crimea and Sevastopol with Russia, the Ukrainian Navy had about 40 combat ships and support vessels in its fleet. Due to lack of funds, many of them did not undergo necessary repairs and were scrapped. Russia managed to transfer some of the remaining ships of the Ukrainian Navy in Crimea to Ukraine in 2014. The process was halted due to Kiev’s refusal to accept them, as it would be seen as recognition of the Russian status of the peninsula, according to the Ukrainian side. Moscow then stopped the transfer due to Ukraine’s aggression against the Donetsk and Luhansk Republics.
