Ukraine would win war faster if it could fire British weapons into Russia, head of navy says
Ukraine would win the war faster if it had permission to fire British and other Western weapons against targets deep inside Russia, the head of the Ukrainian navy has signalled.
Vice Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa told Sky News the course of the entire conflict would have been very different had Ukrainian forces been allowed to use western munitions without restrictions from the very beginning.
The UK, US and other allies only agreed to start giving Ukraine longer-range missiles last year. Ukrainian forces have used them to hit targets in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine but not deep inside Russia amid concerns about escalation.
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In a wide-ranging interview, the Ukrainian commander also said his navy would gladly take charge of two British warships the Royal Navy may reportedly have to retire early because of a shortage of sailors amid a recruitment crisis.
“We must have the capabilities to make sure that Russia will give up forever the thought of even looking in Ukraine’s direction, including at sea,” Vice Admiral Neizhpapa said.
Despite limited naval assets, the Ukrainian armed forces – supported by the UK and other allies – have been conducting a David versus Goliath-style operation against Russia’s much larger Black Sea Fleet in and around occupied Crimea, destroying ships, infrastructure and even taking out a submarine.
A one-fingered salute to Russian flagship
Souvenirs of the sea war decorate a room at a secret location in Odesa, southern Ukraine, where the admiral gave his interview earlier this month.
Displayed in one corner is the lid of a tube of a Ukrainian missile used to sink the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in the first weeks of the full-scale invasion.
The lid of a tube of a Ukrainian missile used to sink the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet
The attack on the Moskva on 14 April 2022 remains one of Ukraine’s most iconic triumphs.
Painted on one side of the lid is an image of the Russian ship in flames with a Ukrainian commando standing in the foreground giving it a one-fingered salute.
The sinking of the Moskva “achieved a military goal, but also a political one”, said Vice Admiral Neizhpapa, proudly holding the unusual piece of artwork, which is about the size of a very large plate.
“At that moment, Ukraine understood that Moscow can be defeated.”
An image of the Moskva missile cruiser was shared widely online
A second photo of the Moskva emerged online
Another piece of history is mounted on a wall in a wooden frame, encased by glass.
It contains the arming pin for a British Storm Shadow missile fired from a Ukrainian Su-24 bomber aircraft against Russia’s naval headquarters in the port city of Sevastopol in Crimea on 22 September 2023 – another landmark strike.
The arming pin for a British missile fired at Russia’s naval headquarters in the port city of Sevastopol
The aftermath of the attack
‘More than two dozen Russian vessels destroyed’
Very little is known in public about the secret operations conducted by Ukraine’s military, with support from western allies, against the Russian navy, but they involve a range of different modes of attack, including underwater drones, western missiles and even jet skis.
“Our successes during 2022 and 2023 were a result of difficult but innovative decisions, which did not exist before,” the naval commander said.
Ukraine is believed to have destroyed more than two dozen Russian vessels, forcing Moscow to pull back a number of warships from Crimea to the Russian port of Novorossiysk.
The action has made it harder for Russia to enforce a naval blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, imposed to reduce Kyiv’s ability to export grain.
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Fire and smoke across Sevastopol
Previous attack methods may no longer work, admiral warns
The admiral said the sea war has two goals – to stop the Russian navy from being able to attack Ukraine and to enable ships to access Ukrainian ports.
But with the full-scale invasion about the enter its third year, he warned previous methods of attack may no longer work.
“The enemy is adapting, and we must also adapt. A modern war is a war of technologies. Whoever wins in the technological sense will have victory,” he said.
Smoke rises from a shipyard hit by a Ukrainian missile attack in Sevastopol
‘Putin behaves like a small-scale gangster’
Something that could help Ukraine would be the ability to use long-range western weapons, such as Britain’s Storm Shadow missile or American ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems), against military targets inside Russia.
Asked whether he believed Ukraine could win the war faster if given such permission, the commander said: “Of course, the sooner the armed forces have the necessary battle capabilities and certain capabilities to destroy the enemy’s infrastructure facilities, the sooner we will win.”
He added: “As a military man, I will say the following: the enemy, knowing the battle capabilities of [our] armed forces, reacts accordingly to our actions. Therefore, of course, if we had limitless capabilities, believe me, the war would have played out totally differently.
“If Ukraine had certain types of long-range weapons which can be used deeper at the enemy territory, of course, the enemy would have behaved differently, including on the battlefield.
“Putin behaves like a small-scale gangster who knows that if he is matched blow for blow, he will not start a fight… If he understands that Ukraine can fight back and make him really feel pain, of course, he will give all this up. This is all.”
‘The navy needs warships’
Western allies have – according to public comments made by military and political leaders – restricted the use of their weapons to within Ukraine and Russian-held Ukrainian territory because of concern about igniting a direct war between Moscow and the West, even though Russian forces launch strikes against Ukrainian troops from locations across Russia.
As well as giving missiles, British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps revealed in December that two Royal Navy minehunter ships would be transferred to the Ukrainian navy, though the ships will not be able to enter Ukrainian ports until the war ends because of restricted access to the Black Sea.
Britain is also reportedly considering retiring two Type 23 frigates because of a shortage of sailors.
Asked whether his navy would be interested in HMS Westminster and HMS Argyll if that did happen, Vice Admiral Neizhpapa said: “Of course, the Navy needs warships, because we understand that there is no navy without ships. This is why, if such a decision is taken, concerning the possibility of handing over two frigates to the [Ukrainian] Navy, we will be very happy.”
A famine has been declared in Gaza City and the surrounding neighbourhoods.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) – a globally recognised system for classifying the severity of food insecurity and malnutrition – has confirmed just four famines since it was established in 2004.
These were in Somalia in 2011, and in Sudan in 2017, 2020, and 2024.
The confirmation of famine in Gaza City is the IPC’s first outside of Africa.
“After 22 months of relentless conflict, over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions characterised by starvation, destitution and death,” the report said, adding that more than a million other people face a severe level of food insecurity.
Israel Gaza map
Over the next month conditions are also expected to worsen, with the famine projected to expand to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, the report said.
Nearly a third of the population (641,000 people) are expected to face catastrophic conditions while acute malnutrition is projected to continue getting worse rapidly.
Over the next year, the report said at least 132,000 children will suffer from acute malnutrition – double the organisation’s estimates from May 2024.
Israel says no famine in Gaza
Volker Turk, the UN Human Rights chief, said the famine is the direct result of actions taken by the Israeli government.
“It is a war crime to use starvation as method of warfare, and the resulting deaths may also amount to the war crime of wilful killing,” he said.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, has rejected the findings.
Israel’s foreign ministry said there is no famine in Gaza: “Over 100,000 trucks of aid have entered Gaza since the start of the war, and in recent weeks a massive influx of aid has flooded the Strip with staple foods and caused a sharp decline in food prices, which have plummeted in the markets.”
Another UN chief made a desperate plea to Israel’s prime minister to declare a ceasefire in the wake of the famine announcement.
Tom Fletcher, UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, said famine could have been prevented in the strip if there hadn’t been a “systematic obstruction” of aid deliveries.
“My ask, my plea, my demand to Prime Minister Netanyahu and anyone who can reach him. Enough. Ceasefire. Open the crossings, north and south, all of them,” he said.
The IPC had previously warned famine was imminent in parts of Gaza, but had stopped short of a formal declaration.
Palestinians struggle to get aid at a community kitchen in Gaza City. Pic: AP
The latest report on Gaza from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says there were almost 13,000 new admissions of children for acute malnutrition recorded in July.
The latest numbers from the Gaza health ministry are 251 dead as a result of famine and malnutrition, including 108 children.
But Israel has previously accused Hamas of inflating these figures, saying that most of the children who died had pre-existing health conditions.
The Ukrainian suspected of coordinating attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines had served in Ukraine’s Secret Service and in the Ukrainian Army’s special forces, Sky News understand.
Serhii K., 49, was arrested in northern Italy on Thursday following the issuance of a European arrest warrant by German prosecutors.
It is not known whether he was still serving at the time of the pipeline attack in 2022 and Ukraine’s government has always denied any involvement in the explosions.
According to sources close to the case, the suspect has been found in a three-star bungalow hotel named La Pescaccia in San Clemente, in the province of Rimini.
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Man arrested over Nord Stream attacks
When military officers from Italy’s Carabinieri investigative and operational units raided his bedroom, he didn’t try to resist the arrest.
The hotel’s employees have been questioned, but no further evidence or any weapons were found, the sources added.
Serhii arrived on Italy’s Adriatic coast earlier this week, and the purpose of his trip was a holiday. He was found with his two children and his wife.
At least one of the four people within his family had a travel ticket issued in Poland. He crossed the Italian border with his car with a Ukrainian license plate last Tuesday.
He was travelling with his passport, and he used his real identity to check into the hotel, triggering an emergency alert on a police server, we have been told.
A satellite image shows gas from the Nord Stream pipeline bubbling up in the Baltic Sea. File pic: Roscosmos via Reuters
After the arrest, he was taken to the Rimini police station before being moved to a prison in Bologna, the regional capital, on Friday.
Deputy Bologna Prosecutor Licia Scagliarini has granted the German judicial authorities’ requests for Serhii’s surrender, but Sky News understands the man told the appeal court that he doesn’t consent to being handed over to Germany.
He also denied the charges and said he was in Ukraine during the Nord Stream sabotage. He added that he is currently in Italy for family reasons.
While leaving the court, he was seen making a typical Ukrainian nationalist ‘trident’ gesture to the reporters.
The next hearing is scheduled for 3 September, when the Bologna appeal court is set to decide whether Serhii will be extradited to Germany or not. He will remain in jail until then.
In Germany, he will face charges of collusion to cause an explosion, anti-constitutional sabotage and the destruction of structures.
German prosecutors believe he was part of a group of people who planted devices on the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm in September 2022.
Serhii and his accomplices are believed to have set off from Rostock on Germany’s north-eastern coast in a sailing yacht to carry out the attack.
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The explosions severely damaged three pipelines transporting gas from Russia to Europe. It represented a significant escalation in the Ukraine conflict and worsening of the continent’s energy supply crisis.
According to a US intelligence report leaked in 2023, a pro-Ukraine group was behind the attack. Yet, no group has ever claimed responsibility.
Spare pipes for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. File pic: Reuters/Fabian Bimmer
Sky News understands Genoa’s Prosecutor’s Office in northern Italy has requested their colleagues in Bologna to share the information related to Serhii.
Anti-terrorism prosecutors are investigating another alleged sabotage linked to the Russian shadow fleet oil tanker Seajewel, which sank off the port of Savona last February.
On Thursday, they asked an investigative police unit to figure out whether there is a link between that episode and the Nord Stream attacks.
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