On 18 December 2021, during a visit to Ukraine of Minister of Defence of Denmark Trine Bramsen, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine and the Ministry of Defence of the Kingdom of Denmark concerning cooperation on developing and enhancing Ukraine’s maritime capabilities. On the Ukrainian side, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Yurii Vaskov signed the international treaty.

The Memorandum declares Denmark’s ability to support Ukraine in creating a unified system of maritime security and search and rescue at sea, aims to strengthen Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty including control over territorial waters and enhance maritime security and safety, and reaffirms that enhancing Ukraine’s maritime and naval capacity of enforcing its territorial sovereignty will ultimately strengthen security of Denmark.

In order to implement the shipbuilding project, a consortium of leading Danish companies from various industries has been established which includes ship design, engineering, technology, information technology and other companies. The Danish government has provided guarantees to the Danish Export Credit Agency (EKF) to insure the foreign economic activity of the consortium in the amount of 7.8 billion DKK ($1.19 billion).

Shipbuilding will be fully localized in Ukraine where Ukrainian companies will perform more than 50% of the total work. Each of the vessels will be equipped with high-tech specialized equipment from Danish manufacturers. Multi-purpose vessels will be able to perform dozens of functions, including surveillance and sovereignty enforcement, collective defence, search and rescue, environmental protection, hydrographic survey, transportation and more.

In order to implement the Memorandum, the necessary governance structure will be established which will include various Ukrainian and Danish stakeholders. Completion of the first multi-purpose vessel is expected by 2024.

Photos: Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, “Politiken” newspaper