By Galina Korol | 2025-07-09

Drifting just below the surface, thousands of hidden mines have turned the Black Sea into a deadly no-go zone. Now, Ukraine is arming itself with minehunters to fight back.

These weapons of peace are urgently needed. The Black Sea has become one of the world's most hazardous waterways, saturated with naval mines laid by Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion.

The threat will persist long after the war ends, barring aggressive countermeasures.

In a step toward restoring maritime safety, Ukraine received two European minesweepers — the Belgian Narcis and the Dutch Vlaardingen — during a recent handover at Belgium's Zeebrugge naval base, according to Militarnyi.

"The minesweepers are entering a new chapter, under a new flag, with a new mission," Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said, according to his ministry.

Ukraine expects to receive a third Alkmaar-class vessel, the Makkum, by the end of 2025. It plans to rename the Dutch vessel Henichesk, after the Russian-occupied city in Kherson province.

The fleet's hope

These modern vessels are not mere minesweepers. They are true "minehunters."

"Their main strength is the ability to find mines ahead of them," Pavlo Lakiychuk, director of security projects at the Strategy XXI Center for Global Studies, told Kontur.

Belgium, France and the Netherlands developed the Alkmaar-class ships. They are based on the French Circé class. Each nation contributed key components: France supplied anti-mine systems and electronics, the Netherlands provided engines and Belgium delivered generators.

Builders upgraded Dutch variants with a 630-ton displacement and advanced systems, including the Atlas Elektronik INCMS combat suite, Thales 2022 Mk III sonar and Seafox and Double Eagle mine-clearing tools.

The ships can transport cargo and ammunition, adding versatility to Ukraine's fleet.

As it happens, these are not the first minehunters that Ukraine has received from the West. In April 2023, Britain transferred two decommissioned Sandown-class vessels -- HMS Grimsby and HMS Shoreham -- which received the names Chernihiv and Cherkasy. Their crews are now stationed in Portsmouth, England, to undergo training for mine removal someday in the Black Sea.

Those Ukrainian names evoke predecessor ships from Soviet times.

Symbolic name, practical value

For Ukraine, these minesweepers carry symbolic weight as well as strategic value.

The former Vlaardingen and Narcis now bear the names Melitopol and Mariupol.

Those names have a double purpose: they honor Ukrainian cities now under Russian occupation, as well as earlier ships (as the Chernihiv and Cherkasy do).

Ukraine once had its own fleet of Soviet-era minesweepers, said Lakiychuk. After the collapse of the USSR, Ukraine inherited several vessels from the Black Sea Fleet.

"Some (U-310 Chernihiv, U-311 Cherkasy) were captured by the Russians in Crimea, others were sunk by Russia in the Sea of Azov and those that remained were hit by Russian aircraft and missiles in the waters of the Port of Odesa," said Lakiychuk.

The crews "fought back bravely" against Russian attack, but Ukraine now lacks operational minesweepers in the Black Sea and "cannot now ensure safe navigation," he said.

A dangerous legacy

The ships are vital to Ukraine, said Lakiychuk, who called them "important," "necessary" and "so badly missed," stressing the urgent need to clear sea mines laid by Russia. The mines endanger both the military and civilians.

The danger will persist without intervention, Ihor Reznichenko of the Ukrainian Sappers Association said.

"Mines can break free from their moorings and drift across the sea. In such cases, it is essentially impossible to predict the consequences," he told Kontur, adding that sea currents make their movement also unpredictable.

Soviet-era anchored mines remain the most common in the Black Sea. Anchored below the surface, they can detach during storms and become "wandering killers."

"The danger is that a drifting mine could hit a ship or be washed ashore. This has already happened. For example, in the vicinity of Batumi, Georgia – that was probably a Russian anchored mine [targeting Ukrainian shipping]," said Reznichenko, referring to an incident in February 2023.

Swimmers along Ukraine's coast face risks from PDM-1M bottom mines, anti-landing weapons placed in shallow water, he said. Though stationary, the mines can be deadly to someone who bumps into their fuses.

Thousands of mines

The number of mines in the Black Sea remains unknown. While Ukraine tracks its own minefields, Russia deliberately withholds this information.

"Russia never discloses where it has placed mines, where these mine banks and minefields are," said Lakiychuk.

Russia began large-scale mining operations in 2022 to blockade Ukrainian ports, later expanding efforts with aircraft, ships and underwater drones, especially around Snake Island, he said.

The total could reach "thousands, and possibly tens of thousands," he added.

Ships not at sea

Ukraine now has a "fairly decent minesweeper flotilla" of nearly five vessels, but none may operate in the Black Sea because of a Turkish ban on warships from warring nations transiting the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, said Maksym Palamarchuk of the National Institute for Strategic Studies.

Lakiychuk noted the restriction cuts both ways -- it blocks Russia from reinforcing its fleet but prevents Ukraine from clearing mines in its own waters, leaving sea routes dangerously exposed.

Nevertheless, officials see the arrival of the vessels as a major step toward reclaiming Ukraine's coast.

"The mines will not go away after the war. They will have to be destroyed, and this will take some time," Palamarchuk told Kontur.

The ships could serve symbolic and practical roles in peacetime, from "showing the flag" to escorting high-value cargo, he said.