Naval exercises Sea Breeze 2023 have begun off the coast of Scotland, in which the Ukrainian ships Cherkasy and Chernihiv are also taking part. This was announced by the command of the Military Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Sea Breeze 2023 is a multinational military exercise held on the territory of Ukraine since 1997, co-organized by Ukraine and the USA. The previous exercises Sea Breeze 2021, which took place from June 28 to July 10, 2021, despite the opposition of the russian Federation and pro-russian forces in Ukraine, became the largest in history. They involved 30 ships, boats and vessels, up to 30 planes and helicopters, up to 3,000 personnel and 50 units of weapons and military equipment from 30 countries of the world. The theme of the Sea Breeze 2021 exercise was to conduct an international maritime security operation in a crisis region to maintain peace.

Due to the start of a full-scale war in 2022, the Sea Breeze exercises were conducted without the participation of Ukraine. And so in 2023, Sea Breeze 2023 was adopted by Great Britain. Ships from the Netherlands, Estonia, France, Norway, Great Britain and Ukraine are taking part in the exercises.

The Military Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are presented by Sandown-class minesweepers Cherkasy and Chernihiv, which were recently transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Great Britain and on which the Ukrainian crew is trained. Unfortunately, these ships will not be able to reach the Black Sea before victory. The main task of the training complex of the Ukrainian contingent as part of the training is preparation for planning and conducting mine countermeasures in accordance with NATO standards and procedures with the involvement of samples of weapons and military equipment that the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine received from partner countries.

The Sea Breeze 2023 exercise began on June 26 and is scheduled to end on July 7, 2023.

General characteristics of Sandown-class ships
Displacement – 600 tons
Length – 52.5 m
Beam – 10.9 m
Draught – 2.3 m
Propulsion – Paxman Valenta 6RP200E diesel with a power of 1523 hp. (1136 kW); diesel-electric drive Combimac 100 kW; Schottel bow thrusters
Speed – 13 knots (24 km/h)
Crew – 34 sailors (accommodation up to 40 people)
Sensors and processing systems – Radar type 1007 I-Band/Kelvin Hughes Ltd SharpEye navigation radar; Type 2093 sonar
Equipment – SeaFox drones for demining
Armament – 1 × 30-mm DS30M Mark 2 automatic gun; 3 × 7.62 mm M134 Minigun multi-barreled machine guns; 2 × 7.62 mm FN MAG machine guns