A Retired Ukrainian Naval Commander on What Its Navy Has—and What It Needs

Capt. Andrii Ryzhenko was also an assistant minister of defense in 2020.

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Over the weekend I interviewed retired Capt. Andrii Ryzhenko, a 35-year veteran of the Ukrainian and Soviet navies. He served at NATO headquarters in Mons, Belgium, between 2006 and 2010, working on naval combat readiness evaluation. After the start of war with Russia in 2014, Ryzhenko headed up the Ukrainian navy’s Euro-Atlantic integration and was one of the core developers of the Ukrainian navy’s new strategy. In 2020 he was the assistant minister of defense of Ukraine, working on maritime security and policy on Ukrainian navy development. He is a graduate of the Sevastopol Naval Academy and the U.S. Naval War College. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Andrew Fink: Could you set the stage from before the war: What was the state of the Ukrainian navy and the Russian navy before the war and what were you guys planning for?

Capt. Andrii Ryzhenko: After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the Ukrainian navy lost most of the fleet. We lost 70 percent of the people and we lost 75 percent of the equipment. When we got to Odesa, [the new naval headquarters, on the northwest corner of Black Sea] we understood that we cannot carry on the same as we did before, and also we needed support from our partners. This brings us to our long-term naval planning. There were many attempts at planning, a lot of internal friction etc., but finally in 2018 we created our naval strategy. This was a long-term document that described how the Ukrainian navy would develop between 2018 and 2035. We divided this into three periods, and each period was aimed at a certain goal. The obvious primary threat was Russia, but also we made some references to the changing geopolitical environment, to technological advances. We should not be frozen into the Soviet military industry like Ukraine used to be because of internal institutional compromise and corruption. 

In the first stage we had to ensure our primary task: to defend our country from aggression. During this first stage we were thinking about defending the closest Ukrainian maritime area, the sea that is about 40 nautical miles from the coast. The area we are talking about is the northwestern part of the Black Sea, an area of around 100 by 150 nautical miles between the coast and Russian-occupied Crimea, and also the northern part of the Sea of Azov. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    “ Ukraine could get some weapons, but there was a long delay in the decision about what weapons to put on these boats. Unfortunately, when it was finally decided, it was too late to install”

    Sounds like the US Navy.

    In all seriousness, great interview. Good job.

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    David Atkinson

    The Switchblade 600 has a max range of 25 miles, and delivers an armor-piercing warhead. Send a swarm of these to knock out a ship’s missile batteries, radar and comms equipment and perhaps the bridge. The subs would still be a problem, however.

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    DougAz

    Excellent Interview!

    https://www.spytalk.co/p/russian-armys-fail-no-surprise-to

    This piece in SpyTalk substack presents a pretty dysfunctional Soviet now Russian land military.
    from "Milton Bearden, CIA station chief in Pakistan during the most vigorous chapters of the agency’s proxy war against Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the mid-to-late 1980s.

    The Red Army’s medical kits included glass bottles that might have been holdovers from World War Two, Bearden told SpyTalk, instead of the plastic vials in use by American and other contemporary military services. Kits captured by the Afghan guerrillas “were bags of broken glass and liquid,” he said."

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  4. William H.

    I really appreciate these Dispatch interviews with people who know what they are talking about and have genuine insights to provide. Thank you.

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    Psmangelsdorf

    This is one of many reasons I subscribe to the Dispatch. Great job!

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  6. Avatar photo
    George.Skinner

    The trick for NATO navies is that they’re built around conventional lines and focus on defeating asymmetric tactics, not employing them. I’m not even sure there’s a good solution to the problem: asymmetric tactics have been proposed for centuries (I.e. French corvettes to fight British battleships in the 19th century, Iranian speedboats vs US Navy in the Persian Gulf), but the only one that really seemed to work was submarines. Those are very technically challenging to support and employ. Maybe minefields?

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  7. Thomas Bowen

    This is really outstanding reporting. Seriously, please keep this up!

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  8. Avatar photo
    Brian L.

    Congratulations, Andrew. This is the kind of content I haven't found elsewhere. One pet peeve: a journalist using the term "you guys." It is too informal and does not convey the seriousness and stature that a journalist should project. Other than that, well done.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Erik Kravets

      It was a verbal interview.

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  9. Avatar photo
    MatthewRobin

    Another great piece Andrew, I assumed the Switchblade drone would be used by the army. I did not even consider the naval dimension.

    If you want to read more about the Switchblade drone, I cover it in my Week 3 recap of the war in Ukraine.
    https://infraredline.substack.com/p/warzone-ukraine-week-3-recap

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  10. CatoTheElder

    I hope the right people in the right places (US, UK, France, Sweden, Norway, other NATO countries, Australia, etc.) are listening. Keeping a sea lane open to Odessa is absolutely vital, near and long term. The taking of Crimea is coming back to haunt all who would defend Ukraine.

    Well and properly deployed asymmetric weapons can be a godsend for Ukraine. Send ‘em what they need, and do it yesterday.

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