The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine offered to transfer submarines and a frigate to Germany

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Melnyk offered Germany to hand over submarines and an old frigate to the Defense Forces.

“I know I’m going to get another [wave of criticism], but I have another creative idea. Germany (ThyssenKrupp) manufactures some of the world’s finest HDW Class 212A submarines. The Bundeswehr has 6 such submarines. Why not send it to Ukraine?” Andriy Melnyk wrote on Twitter.

The Deputy Minister also offered to hand over to Ukraine the frigate Lübeck, which Germany had removed from the equipment.

“A month ago, Germany decommissioned the Lübeck frigate. However, he was 32 years old. But, all the same, if there is political will, it could be handed over to Ukraine to fight Russian submarines and warships in the Black Sea. Or at least its weapons like the Sea Sparrow and Harpoon missiles,” the official commented.

Even if Germany agreed to hand over its ships to Ukraine, how exactly to drive them to the Black Sea is unknown. We will remind you that in order to reach Ukraine, ships must pass through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits. The Montreux Convention, signed in 1936, gives Turkey control over the passage of ships through these two key straits. In peacetime, civilian vessels can pass freely, although there are certain restrictions on the passage of vessels that do not belong to the Black Sea countries.

Shortly after the beginning of the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Turkey banned warships from passing through its straits. The exception applies to ships that need to go to their base points.