By Rostyslav Averchuk
Lviv, Apr 1 (EFE).- As the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran continues to disrupt around 20% of global oil shipments, Ukraine offers its expertise in maritime drone warfare to help restore freedom of navigation in the strategic waterway.
“Blocking normal navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is actually the same challenge that we in Ukraine faced in 2022, when Russia tried to block our ports and access to the (Black) sea,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday, noting that no state should face “terrorist attacks” alone.
Following his visit to the region, where over 200 Ukrainian drone operators are already helping repel Iranian drone strikes, the Ukrainian president noted on Monday, after signing multiple defense cooperation agreements, that the provision of maritime drones has been discussed and that Ukraine could help unblock the vital Strait.
Different conditions
The military situations in the Black Sea and the Strait of Hormuz are somewhat different, military analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko, based in Ukraine’s key port of Odesa, told EFE.
However, Ukraine’s experience can be useful if the United States and the region’s armies opt for a military unblocking of the Strait, the analyst from Ukraine’s Information Resistance Group said.
In the Black Sea, Ukraine has managed to destroy or damage over a third of the Russian conventional fleet through the use of weapons such as maritime drones, Magura, and Sea Baby, uncrewed small boats packed with hundreds of kilograms of explosives and capable of travelling between hundreds of kilometres.
“The Russian fleet had to flee the Snake Island, and then Sevastopol,“ Kovalenko reminded, noting that remaining large ships barely leave their most recent base in Novorossiysk.
In the Middle East, Iran’s conventional fleet has been largely attacked by the US and Israeli strikes.
With the rest of Iranian forces geared towards asymmetrical warfare, the main danger lies in the launch of anti-ship missiles against commercial vessels from the lengthy coast and the use of maritime drones or small boats, with about 20 ships already attacked in the Strait and Persian Gulf.
While Ukraine’s air defenses can help against Iran’s aerial kamikaze drones, they cannot directly assist against missile strikes, Kovalenko noted.
Potential contribution
“We can still provide technological solutions, such as unmanned drones, and make proposals to improve overall security in the region, at least at the tactical level,” Kovalenko underlined.
Apart from helping destroy the rest of the Iranian fleet, Ukraine’s maritime drones could be used to patrol the seashore of Iran and thus prevent it from conducting any operations against commercial vessels with saboteurs or with its numerous unmanned boats.
“Given that we have sea drones that can fire various types of weapons, this is quite possible,” Kovalenko underlined.
Iran has been a pioneer in the use of maritime drones, yet Ukraine “has advanced them to a new level,” Kovalenko noted. Its drones are capable of carrying rocket launchers and small air defenses, with the use of large caliber machine guns in particular proven to be effective.
Ukraine could also use maritime drones as platforms to launch aerial drones to detect and destroy anti-ship missile launchers located on Iran’s shore.
Government officials previously said that Ukraine currently covers its need for maritime drones, which means it can use or export them abroad.
The events in the Middle East demonstrate how Ukraine’s experience continues to be underappreciated by its Western partners, Kovalenko noted.
It remains to be seen whether Ukraine’s offer of assistance will be accepted, as the US has previously rejected Ukraine’s proposal to help repel Iranian drone attacks, despite its central role in any potential operation to unblock the Strait.
Apart from marking Ukraine as an exporter of military solutions and securing support from the region’s states, its participation in the unblocking of the Hormuz Strait could decrease global oil prices, thereby limiting Russia’s export revenues and its ability to fund the invasion. EFE
ra/dgp
