March 26, 2014
One-Ship Ukraine Navy Defies Russia to the End
Philip Shishkin
Wall Street Journal, March 26, 2014
The Russian navy sank ships in Crimea’s Donuzlav Lake in an attempt to keep Ukrainian ships from leaving. Itar-Tass/Zuma Press
NOVO-OZERNE, Ukraine—Its escape to the open seas blocked by sunken ships, the Ukrainian minesweeper Cherkassy weaved and lurched in a narrow gulf on Tuesday afternoon with a symbolic, if inevitably brief, distinction: the last Ukrainian military vessel in Crimea not yet seized by the Russian navy.
From the banks of the gulf cutting into the western flank of the peninsula from the Black Sea, the Russians watched the trapped, constantly moving ship, then dispatched patrol boats to chase and bump the stubborn vessel in several unsuccessful capture attempts.
All other Ukrainian vessels blockaded in the same gulf, known as the Donuzlav Lake, had been seized in recent weeks.
On Tuesday night, the Russians tried again to seize the minesweeper. There was gunfire, explosions and smoke grenades, while helicopters hovered above the craft.
Officials at the Russian military base on the gulf declined to comment during the standoff on Tuesday.
The maritime drama has made enemies of sailors from two navies that have long trained, lived and studied together.
Born of a single Soviet mother, the Russian Black Sea Fleet and its Ukrainian counterpart went their separate ways after the breakup of the Soviet Union, splitting up old Soviet ships between the two of them.
Although Crimea remained part of independent Ukraine, Moscow continued to use the peninsula as headquarters of its Black Sea Fleet, under a treaty signed with Kiev.
Once Moscow moved to annex Crimea from Ukraine this month, the Black Sea Fleet was turned into a logistical base to assist in the takeover, in part by funneling troops into the streets of Crimea. One Ukrainian military analyst described the Russian fleet as a “Trojan horse.”
The Kremlin has long worried about having part of its navy based in a country pursuing closer ties with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which Moscow views as a strategic foe.
Russia solved that problem by seizing Crimea and badly damaging Moscow’s relations with the West.
In the process, Russia also expropriated the underfunded Ukrainian navy.
The last Ukrainian ship stationed in Crimea fell siege to the Russian Navy, Tuesday, after an extended game of cat-and-mouse. The reported 50 members of the crew onboard were detained. Photo: Лиля Абибулаева
Anticipating the annexation, Ukraine’s overall naval commander defected to the Russians in early March, garnering a military honor from Moscow but drawing scorn from his Ukrainian charges.
On Monday, Russia’s defense minister showed up here in person and appointed the renegade officer, Adm. Denis Berezovsky, deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet.
Ukraine’s acting defense minister, Ihor Tenyukh, resigned Tuesday. The Ukrainian government faced widespread criticism from Ukrainians for failing to prepare an orderly withdrawal plan for the troops and leaving them to fend for themselves with unclear orders.
Meanwhile, on Donuzlav Lake, the Russians made sure Ukrainian ships wouldn’t escape.
They sank two old boats in the shallow mouth of the gulf where it connects with the Black Sea, then picked off Ukrainian ships one by one, in largely nonviolent takeovers.
With tensions rising between Russia and Western powers, the U.S. held submarine exercises in the Arctic Ocean - the body of water where the Russian and U.S. subs are likeliest to encounter each other. Via The Foreign Bureau, WSJ’s global news update.
President Barack Obama says the U.S. is concerned about further encroachment by Russia into Ukraine. Obama said it would be “a bad choice” while attending a nuclear summit Tuesday in the Netherlands.
As Russia began its invasion of Crimea last month, Ukraine’s fledgling government turned to its armed forces to bolster security. What they found was a badly degraded military, stripped bare by years of neglect and corruption. Photo: EPA
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Cherkassy, in service since 1977 and armed with four fully loaded artillery stations, had avoided capture.
The ship tried to break out of Donuzlav Lake, nearly making it to freedom through the narrow passage to the Black Sea, but was bumped at the last moment by a Russian boat, forcing it to turn back, said Capt. Yuri Fedash, Cherkassy’s commanding officer.
A Cherkassy sailor sent out a video that showed the confrontation.
Ukrainians used water cannons against Russian soldiers on the nearby ship. Both sides were heavily armed, but Capt. Fedash earlier Tuesday said his orders were to use weapons only in self-defense, and the Russians hadn’t yet fired on his ship.
The Ukrainians also dropped explosive packages around their minesweeper to keep the Russians away.
Part of the Ukrainians’ strategy was to keep moving their ship up and down the gulf, making it harder for the Russians to pin them down.
Capt. Fedash said earlier Tuesday that his men still had fresh water, food and fuel to last a few more days.
Early on in the standoff, the captain ordered 12 sailors, who he said wavered in their commitment, to disembark. He said the remaining 50, including a few who boarded the Cherkassy from seized Ukrainian ships, were united, their mood “combat-like.”
The recent video showed some of them boxing on the deck to prepare for a fight. They slept in shifts and talked to their families by mobile phone.
Capt. Fedash, an ethnic Ukrainian, has a 7-month-old son at home, his only child. On Tuesday afternoon, he didn’t know how, or when, things would end. He did know he would probably have to leave Crimea.
"For now, we have a single order, ‘Hang in there,’ " the captain said before the evening attack on the ship.
He soon stopped answering his mobile phone.
On Tuesday night, the Russians finally captured the minesweeper.
Reached by phone early Wednesday, Capt. Fedash recounted the capture, which he said involved three patrol boats, two helicopters and a tugboat.
The Cherkassy crew tried to keep the Russians at bay by throwing smoke grenades, following strict orders not to shoot unless fired upon. The Russians fired heavy machine guns at the water around the ship. Then they started throwing explosive charges to disable the Cherkassy’s steering.
They succeeded, and the ship lost its only real defense: the ability to steer away from the attacking vessels.
As Russian special forces boarded the minesweeper, Capt. Fedash ordered his crew to lock themselves below decks. Then, he negotiated the crew surrender with the Russian commandos.
"We made a deal that nobody should get hurt," he said.
The minesweeper was towed ashore. Capt. Fedash said the Russians were polite and said they respected the Cherkassy’s long resistance.
He managed to negotiate one final deal: The captain and some fellow officers would spend one final night aboard their ship, with the Ukrainian flag flying high. They planned to disembark in the morning, leaving the Russians to lower the flag themselves.
"I’m a little disappointed that I never got political clarity from my command," Capt. Fedash said.
One-Ship Ukraine Navy Defies Russia to the End
Philip Shishkin
Wall Street Journal, March 26, 2014
The Russian navy sank ships in Crimea’s Donuzlav Lake in an attempt to keep Ukrainian ships from leaving. Itar-Tass/Zuma Press
NOVO-OZERNE, Ukraine—Its escape to the open seas blocked by sunken ships, the Ukrainian minesweeper Cherkassy weaved and lurched in a narrow gulf on Tuesday afternoon with a symbolic, if inevitably brief, distinction: the last Ukrainian military vessel in Crimea not yet seized by the Russian navy.
From the banks of the gulf cutting into the western flank of the peninsula from the Black Sea, the Russians watched the trapped, constantly moving ship, then dispatched patrol boats to chase and bump the stubborn vessel in several unsuccessful capture attempts.
All other Ukrainian vessels blockaded in the same gulf, known as the Donuzlav Lake, had been seized in recent weeks.
On Tuesday night, the Russians tried again to seize the minesweeper. There was gunfire, explosions and smoke grenades, while helicopters hovered above the craft.
Officials at the Russian military base on the gulf declined to comment during the standoff on Tuesday.
The maritime drama has made enemies of sailors from two navies that have long trained, lived and studied together.
Born of a single Soviet mother, the Russian Black Sea Fleet and its Ukrainian counterpart went their separate ways after the breakup of the Soviet Union, splitting up old Soviet ships between the two of them.
Although Crimea remained part of independent Ukraine, Moscow continued to use the peninsula as headquarters of its Black Sea Fleet, under a treaty signed with Kiev.
Once Moscow moved to annex Crimea from Ukraine this month, the Black Sea Fleet was turned into a logistical base to assist in the takeover, in part by funneling troops into the streets of Crimea. One Ukrainian military analyst described the Russian fleet as a “Trojan horse.”
The Kremlin has long worried about having part of its navy based in a country pursuing closer ties with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which Moscow views as a strategic foe.
Russia solved that problem by seizing Crimea and badly damaging Moscow’s relations with the West.
In the process, Russia also expropriated the underfunded Ukrainian navy.
The last Ukrainian ship stationed in Crimea fell siege to the Russian Navy, Tuesday, after an extended game of cat-and-mouse. The reported 50 members of the crew onboard were detained. Photo: Лиля Абибулаева
Anticipating the annexation, Ukraine’s overall naval commander defected to the Russians in early March, garnering a military honor from Moscow but drawing scorn from his Ukrainian charges.
On Monday, Russia’s defense minister showed up here in person and appointed the renegade officer, Adm. Denis Berezovsky, deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet.
Ukraine’s acting defense minister, Ihor Tenyukh, resigned Tuesday. The Ukrainian government faced widespread criticism from Ukrainians for failing to prepare an orderly withdrawal plan for the troops and leaving them to fend for themselves with unclear orders.
Meanwhile, on Donuzlav Lake, the Russians made sure Ukrainian ships wouldn’t escape.
They sank two old boats in the shallow mouth of the gulf where it connects with the Black Sea, then picked off Ukrainian ships one by one, in largely nonviolent takeovers.
With tensions rising between Russia and Western powers, the U.S. held submarine exercises in the Arctic Ocean - the body of water where the Russian and U.S. subs are likeliest to encounter each other. Via The Foreign Bureau, WSJ’s global news update.
President Barack Obama says the U.S. is concerned about further encroachment by Russia into Ukraine. Obama said it would be “a bad choice” while attending a nuclear summit Tuesday in the Netherlands.
As Russia began its invasion of Crimea last month, Ukraine’s fledgling government turned to its armed forces to bolster security. What they found was a badly degraded military, stripped bare by years of neglect and corruption. Photo: EPA
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Cherkassy, in service since 1977 and armed with four fully loaded artillery stations, had avoided capture.
The ship tried to break out of Donuzlav Lake, nearly making it to freedom through the narrow passage to the Black Sea, but was bumped at the last moment by a Russian boat, forcing it to turn back, said Capt. Yuri Fedash, Cherkassy’s commanding officer.
A Cherkassy sailor sent out a video that showed the confrontation.
Ukrainians used water cannons against Russian soldiers on the nearby ship. Both sides were heavily armed, but Capt. Fedash earlier Tuesday said his orders were to use weapons only in self-defense, and the Russians hadn’t yet fired on his ship.
The Ukrainians also dropped explosive packages around their minesweeper to keep the Russians away.
Part of the Ukrainians’ strategy was to keep moving their ship up and down the gulf, making it harder for the Russians to pin them down.
Capt. Fedash said earlier Tuesday that his men still had fresh water, food and fuel to last a few more days.
Early on in the standoff, the captain ordered 12 sailors, who he said wavered in their commitment, to disembark. He said the remaining 50, including a few who boarded the Cherkassy from seized Ukrainian ships, were united, their mood “combat-like.”
The recent video showed some of them boxing on the deck to prepare for a fight. They slept in shifts and talked to their families by mobile phone.
Capt. Fedash, an ethnic Ukrainian, has a 7-month-old son at home, his only child. On Tuesday afternoon, he didn’t know how, or when, things would end. He did know he would probably have to leave Crimea.
"For now, we have a single order, ‘Hang in there,’ " the captain said before the evening attack on the ship.
He soon stopped answering his mobile phone.
On Tuesday night, the Russians finally captured the minesweeper.
Reached by phone early Wednesday, Capt. Fedash recounted the capture, which he said involved three patrol boats, two helicopters and a tugboat.
The Cherkassy crew tried to keep the Russians at bay by throwing smoke grenades, following strict orders not to shoot unless fired upon. The Russians fired heavy machine guns at the water around the ship. Then they started throwing explosive charges to disable the Cherkassy’s steering.
They succeeded, and the ship lost its only real defense: the ability to steer away from the attacking vessels.
As Russian special forces boarded the minesweeper, Capt. Fedash ordered his crew to lock themselves below decks. Then, he negotiated the crew surrender with the Russian commandos.
"We made a deal that nobody should get hurt," he said.
The minesweeper was towed ashore. Capt. Fedash said the Russians were polite and said they respected the Cherkassy’s long resistance.
He managed to negotiate one final deal: The captain and some fellow officers would spend one final night aboard their ship, with the Ukrainian flag flying high. They planned to disembark in the morning, leaving the Russians to lower the flag themselves.
"I’m a little disappointed that I never got political clarity from my command," Capt. Fedash said.
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