Ukraine's Navy Commander explains how ships were saved at beginning of invasion and Russians' landing was avoided

Apart from the Hetman Sahaidachnyi frigate, which was forced to sink, no Ukrainian vessels were damaged in the early days of the full-scale war because they were redeployed at various points. Source: Vice Admiral Oleksii Neizhpapa, Commander of the Ukrainian Navy, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda  (the interview will soon be translated into English) Details: Neizhpapa said that before Russia's full-scale invasion, he understood that the war would be taking place not only in Ukraine's east, and as a military man, he was preparing "for the worst scenarios".

"The enemy had created a full-fledged flotilla of landing forces by gathering landing ships from all navies before the start of the full-scale aggression, and had acquired the capability to land a full-fledged marine brigade on several fronts simultaneously.

So, of course, I understood that the war would not be limited to Donbas. We understood this perfectly well and were preparing for it," he said. Quote: "A certain grouping was created in the Navy by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

This grouping was dispersed - some vessels were at sea, some were at other locations, non-standard, as they say: on civilian berths or other facilities. But most of the vessels were at sea.  Therefore, in the first days of the war, no warships were damaged after large-scale enemy attacks, they were all dispersed.

Naval aircraft also took off from airfields. We had no significant damage to naval aircraft at the beginning of the full-scale aggression." Details: Regarding the loss of the Hetman Sahaidachnyi frigate, which was sunk so as not to let the Russians capture it, Neizhpapa explained that repair and modernisation works had begun on the Hetman Sahaidachnyi at the time of the full-scale invasion.

Therefore, the frigate could neither be used for defence nor relocated.   Quote: "It had no power supply at all, all diesel generators had to be completely replaced, turbines were being repaired, and all weapons were also out of order. As a warship that could participate in repelling aggression, it was not capable of doing so at that time. 

Therefore, the ship's commander made a reasonable decision, in my opinion. This is written in the regulation On Vessel's Service: a ship should not fall to the enemy. And at that time, the enemy was moving very quickly through Kherson Oblast, had already bypassed Kherson, and was on the outskirts of Mykolaiv." 

Details: Neizhpapa said that it was only because Ukrainian soldiers stopped the Russians near Voznesensk in Mykolaiv Oblast that the Russians did not launch an airborne operation in the Black Sea operational zone.  Neizhpapa explained that Russia had the air and sea supremacy necessary to land on the coast, but that a naval operation is usually conducted in the direction of the enemy's main attack and under appropriate conditions on land. Quote: "After the full-scale invasion, the enemy advanced to Mykolaiv, then went northwest, bypassing Mykolaiv in the direction of Voznesensk, to enter the rear of Odesa Oblast.

If our 80th Air Assault Brigade had not stopped the enemy near Voznesensk, the conditions would have been created for the Russians to launch an operation in the Black Sea operational zone. But the Navy did not stand still. We set up minefields in the areas accessible to [Russian] landing operations.

From the very first days, artillery units of the marines and other brigades stationed in Odesa Oblast at the time were brought to the area of firing positions. We intensified radio and radar reconnaissance, both with the use of radio posts and Bayraktar unmanned aerial vehicles to detect enemy landings.  In other words, we were also preparing for such enemy actions.

Yes, the landings did not take place because the conditions on the ground were not created at that time, first of all. Secondly, you know the story of the first time we hit the frigate Admiral Essen with Neptune missiles. And then there was the Moskva cruiser. And the enemy realised that it would be very difficult to just come to our shores without sinking.

That's why, of course, they abandoned the idea of landing operations."

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