People’s Deputy from the Opposition Bloc party, Vadim Novinsky, stated that it is technically impossible to build corvette-class military ships at the state-owned Mykolaiv Shipbuilding Plant (formerly known as the 61 Kommunar Plant).
He shared this in an interview with NikVesti.
As is well known, during the president’s visit to Mykolaiv in July 2019, Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak proposed to Volodymyr Zelensky that the first Ukrainian corvette, “Volodymyr Velykyi,” be completed at the Mykolaiv Shipbuilding Plant, to which Zelensky agreed.
It’s worth noting that back in 2009, the Ministry of Defence signed a contract with the Chernomorsky Shipbuilding Plant, part of the Smart Maritime Group (SMG) — a company linked to oligarch Vadim Novinsky — for the construction of corvettes for the Ukrainian Navy. Funding for this contract continued until 2011.
The programme to build four corvettes, with a total budget of around 2 billion dollars, planned for the launch of the first ship — the “Volodymyr Velykyi” — in 2015. This vessel was laid down at the Chernomorsky Shipbuilding Plant in 2010.
“Firstly, the 61st plant (the Mykolaiv Shipbuilding Plant, editor’s note) cannot build a corvette due to its technical limitations. If it were possible, this order would most likely have been given to that plant, since it is state-owned. But there isn’t a single capability there to carry out this order,” said Vadim Novinsky.
In his opinion, to develop shipbuilding in Ukraine, it is first necessary to put the legislative framework in order.
“I’ve been saying this for ten years now. For shipbuilding to become a successful industry, laws and regulations supporting it must be adopted—just like in the leading shipbuilding nations. China, Korea, Japan, Germany, Turkey—the world’s top five champions in shipbuilding—all have such supportive frameworks. Nowhere in the world is this industry successful without the state creating special rules of the game for it. I believe shipbuilding will be revived. But the government must face it head-on, not turn its back,” said Vadim Novinsky.
To recap, the programme to build four corvettes with a total budget of around $2 billion planned the launch of the first ship—the “Volodymyr Velykyi”—in 2015. This vessel was laid down at the Chernomorsky Shipbuilding Plant in 2010.