Despite having no large naval vessels on active duty, Ukraine has taken out around one-third of the Kremlin's Black Sea Fleet, mostly with missile and marine drone strikes amid Russia's ongoing invasion.
Now Kyiv is rebuilding its own naval strength after their maritime forces were decimated during the Russian invasion. But the ships are being made outside Ukraine’s borders, and it is unclear whether they will have any role in the current war with Russia.
The Hetman Ivan Mazepa docked in Istanbul in March
In Turkey, a vessel built for the Ukrainian Navy was completed and launched in Istanbul in October 2022. The ship's crew has been enlisted and the ship, named the Hetman Ivan Mazepa, is undergoing sea tests. Hetman was a title for Ukrainian Cossack military commanders, particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries.
On a visit to an Istanbul shipyard on March 8, Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy was given a tour of a second warship being built in Turkey under contract from Kyiv. During the visit, Zelenskiy named the incomplete vessel the Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky after a 17th-century commander who fought to keep Ukraine out of Moscow's orbit.
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy stands in front of a second corvette being constructed in Istanbul on March 8.
The corvettes belong to the Turkish-designed Ada-class, which feature stealth technology making them relatively difficult to detect. The ships can be fitted with anti-ship and anti-submarine weaponry. The two-ship deal between the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and Turkish engineering firm STM was inked in 2020 and cost Kyiv a reported $256 million.
"This type of corvette is anti-submarine; this is their main specialization," Volodymyr Zablotskiy, a naval expert at the Defense Express, told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.
"They have helicopters, hydroacoustics, and electronic detection systems that can classify underwater noises. It's a ship that knows where a submarine is and how to attack it," the expert added.
The crew of the Hetman Ivan Mazepa in Istanbul on March 8
The ships are around 100 meters long and nearly 15 meters wide. Both vessels will be equipped with the American Harpoon anti-ship system as well as anti-aircraft missiles, mounted artillery, large-caliber machine guns and torpedo tubes.
But many wonder whether the highly armed ships will serve any role in the current conflict with Russia or even be able to reach the war zone. It is not clear whether the two corvettes would be free to pass through the Bosphorus.
Turkey is bound to close the strategic waterway to ships of warring parties during conflict in accordance with the Montreux Convention of 1936, an agreement that regulates the passage of ships through the strategic strait.
Detail of a jacket worn by a crew member of the Ivan Mazepa
It is possible Ukraine could argue to have the ships released, since departing from Istanbul is not explicitly a journey of transit through the Bosphorus. But even if the ships would be permitted to depart to Ukrainian waters with the war ongoing, analysts say they are likely to be immediately targeted by Russia.
"I hope the war will be over before these corvettes are commissioned," said Oleg Chubuk, a former spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy. "The Russians will be waiting for them, and they would hunt them from the moment they set off on the crossing [to Ukrainian waters]."
Zablotskiy agrees, pointing out they would be a high-value target for Russia within Ukrainian waters.
"It's better to let them stand there for the time being, in Turkey," he said.
Ukrainian corvette Hetman Ivan Mazepa on the day of its launch in Istanbul in October 2022
In December 2023, the United Kingdom and Norway announced they would lead a new coalition of naval forces that would provide long-term support to Ukraine, including training, equipment, and infrastructure to strengthen Ukraine’s defenses in the Black Sea.
Britain also pledged two minesweeping ships to Ukraine, but the vessels have not yet arrived due to the prohibition of passage through the Bosphorus for warships of warring parties.
A portion of the hull of the Volodymyr the Great while under construction in Mykolayiv in 2012
Ukraine's own major ship-building industry has been effectively on ice since the February 2022 Russian full-scale invasion when the country’s navy suffered huge losses, including the scuttling of the country’s flagship, the Hetman Sahaidachny, at Mykolayiv to prevent the frigate falling into Russian hands.
Currently, the construction of Ukraine's light frigate Volodymyr the Great is suspended in Mykolayiv with the southern port city frequently being targeted for Russian strikes. If that ship is completed, it is likely to become the new flagship of the Ukrainian Navy.