Cherkasy and Chernihiv minehunters of the Navy of Ukraine will be temporarily based at a base in the UK.

The press service of the Royal Navy of the UK reported on this.

Ukrainian Sandown-class minehunters will be based at the Portsmouth Naval Base.

The Sandown-class minehunters, formerly HMS Shoreham and HMS Grimsby, now renamed Cherkasy and Chernihiv after being transferred to Ukraine last year, arrived in Portsmouth following a two-day voyage from Scotland.

“The ships will be based in Portsmouth for the foreseeable future as they prepare for exercises with the Royal Navy alongside the US Navy in UK waters, which will help Ukraine understand how to operate with NATO navies,” the Royal Navy said.

The Ukrainian sailors have undergone training with the Royal Navy’s instructors from Fleet Operational Standards and Training over the past 18 months.

“The ships will be based here for as long as they need, and we will be here to support them. The training of their people is important, and they can get out on the sea and work on maritime skills,” said Naval Base Commander, Commodore John Voyce.

Currently, the Cherkasy and Chernihiv minehunters cannot return home to Ukraine because they cannot enter the Black Sea due to the terms of the Montreux Convention, which restricts the passage of warships through the Bosphorus Strait during wartime.

However, these ships will be critically important for Ukraine in the future to protect, in particular, commercial shipping by detecting and clearing sea mines.

The minesweepers will operate in the Black Sea after the end of the Russian-Ukrainian war, clearing vital sea lanes.

As previously reported, the Ukrainian Navy received two Sandown-class minehunters under an agreement between Ukraine and the United Kingdom ratified in January 2022.

Also, the UK and Norway have led a new Maritime Capability Coalition to help Ukraine. New coalition will deliver ships and other vehicles to strengthen Ukraine’s ability to operate at sea.