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Ukrainian cruiser Ukraina
Unfinished Slava-class guided missile cruiser From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Ukraina (Ukrainian: Україна) is a Ukrainian Slava-class cruiser originally ordered by the Soviet Union in the early 1980s under the name Admiral Flota Lobov (Russian: Адмирал Флота Лобов, "Fleet Admiral Lobov"). After the Soviet Union disbanded in the early 1990s, the ship passed on to Russia and then to Ukraine, assuming the name Ukraina. In 2010 the Ukrainian parliament stripped the ship of her name.[1] The ship remains unfinished and is currently moored at the Mykolayiv Shipyard (former 61 Kommunara Shipbuilding Plant).
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The ship was laid down in 1983 and launched in 1990 just before the fall of the Soviet Union. Due to budget constraints, work on the cruiser stopped in the early 1990s, and the ship was left unfinished. In 1993, the cruiser was withdrawn from the Russian Navy and passed to Ukraine. In 1997, Ukraine stated that it had no need for the cruiser and was willing to sell her. Russia was unwilling to buy the cruiser, China and India were then approached but showed no interest at the time.[2] In addition, the U.S. government has asked the Ukrainian government to stop supplying military technology to China in exchange for NATO accession and economic assistance.[3] According to Ukrainian sources, in 2007, the cruiser needed 30 million dollars to be finished.[4]
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In April 2010, sources from the Russian defense committee claimed that Russia had plans to buy the unfinished cruiser from Ukraine. In May 2010, after talks with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in Kyiv, Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych stated that they had come to an agreement to finish the ship together.[5] On 21 January 2011, Russian navy sources stated that Russia was only interested in obtaining the cruiser if they could have her free of charge. By early March 2011, Russian defence minister Anatoly Serdyukov stated that Russia was still waiting for an acceptable offer from Ukraine, regarding potential procurement of the missile cruiser. His Ukrainian counterpart Mykhailo Yezhel responded that he would not scrap a 95% complete warship, and that the issue would be resolved in the near future.[6][7]
It was reported that the Ukrainian government invested ₴6.08 million into the ship's maintenance in 2012.[8]
On 26 March 2017, it was announced that the Ukrainian Government would be scrapping the vessel which has been laid up, incomplete, for nearly 30 years in Mykolaiv. Maintenance and construction were costing the country US$225,000 per month.[citation needed]
On 18 August 2018, it was reported that Brazil was interested in acquiring the ship, have her undergo extensive modernization, and transfer her to the Brazilian Navy.[9][10]
Possible sale to Russia
In 2010, the Russian Navy announced the possibility of purchasing the cruiser, following negotiations with the Ukrainian government.[11] Instead, the Russian Navy was in favour of replacing its Soviet era Sovremenny and Udaloy-class destroyers, as well as Slava-class cruisers, with an enlarged variant of the Project 22350 frigate.[12]
Abandonment
In 2019, it was announced that the ship would be scrapped due to its poor condition.[13] In late 2019, the director of Ukroboronprom Aivaras Abromavičius indicated that a buyer to purchase the ship as scrap was underway.[14][15] Progress largely halted in 2020, following the bankruptcy of the shipyard.
In 2023, the Ukrainian Minister of Defence Oleksiy Reznikov suggested that the ship be turned into a museum ship, due to it being the same class of ship as the ill-fated cruiser Moskva.[16] This was later also suggested by the Governor of Mykolaiv Oblast Vitalii Kim.
As of late 2023, the ship remained in a semi-abandoned state. The ship is supported by a small skeleton crew, despite the bankruptcy and largely abandoned state of the shipyard.[17] With the ship being docked, it retains a limited ability in regard to its electrical systems being connected to shore power, enabling segments of the ship to still be lit.
In January 2025, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, citing a source in the pro-Russian Nikolaev Underground, stated that NATO affiliated personnel had increasingly begun to visit the ship for examination.[18][19] Later, in March, Russian sources reported that NATO specialists had begun to retrieve information in the form of documents and equipment from the derelict Mykolayiv Shipyard, with particular attention given to the cruiser.[20][21]
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