Dozens of Ukrainian sailors are being trained in British waters under HMS Dauntless Ukrainian minehunters training, with Royal Navy crews teaching them how to neutralise Russian naval mines. The exercise, tied to Operation Maritime Interflex, put Ukrainian sailors on a Ukrainian Navy minehunter ship for a rare live drill.
Over more than nine hours, the crew tested and fired the mine-neutralisation system while Royal Navy staff watched the operation from the ship. An unmanned underwater vehicle with a light and camera went down first for surveillance, then a long fibre optic cable carried live video back to the operations room before a secondary kamikaze drone was sent to eliminate the danger.
Illia on the operations room
Illia, 22, from southern Ukraine, said the training is going to help his country. Speaking in the operations room, Illia said: “This is the first successful run for the ship. And in the future, this ship is going to destroy more and more mines, hopefully in the Black Sea.”
Royal Navy Chief Petty Officer Smith said the system does not work like a simple blast against a target. “It doesn’t quite ‘detonate’ the mine. The better way to describe it would be that it’s designed to pierce its casing and essentially flood the senses,” Smith said. Smith also said, “The whole thing is a careful process,” and added, “Mine warfare is probably the slowest warfare.”
English Channel drill, Black Sea task
Lieutenant Commander James said the drill was to detect dummy mines in the English Channel, while the training prepares Ukrainian servicemen to return to the Black Sea and clear real explosive threats. James said the provision of this training allows Ukrainian servicemen to go back to the Black Sea to clear it of real explosive threats.
James said the Black Sea is one of the heaviest mined waters in the world and described the threat there as “hundreds of Russian naval mines” — “certainly up there in the multiples of hundreds, potentially even thousands.” James also said the Black Sea is a key shipping route that borders Ukraine and flows into the Mediterranean Sea.
Odessa region mine threat
The urgency is not abstract. Last year, three civilians were killed by a sea mine in the Odessa region. That makes the British training more than an exercise in procedure: it is preparation for crews who will face live explosive threats in a sea where the difference between a dummy mine and a real one can decide how safely shipping moves again.
How soon those trained crews will deploy back to the Black Sea is not set out, but the stated aim is already clear: turn hours in British waters into mine-clearing capacity where Ukraine needs it most.
