Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has proposed that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approve the deployment of up to 250 Ukrainian troops to take part in Operation Ocean Shield and an operation of the European Union, NavFor Atalanta.
A respective bill gas been posted on the official Web site of Verkhovna Rada.
The president proposed to send a national contingent of up to 250 troops to take part in the Ocean Shield operation in the terms agreed with NATO for the period to January 3, 2014, and to take part in the EU operation NavFor Atalanta from January 3 to March 5, 2014.
According to the documents submitted with the bill, the main forces used during these operations will be the frigate Hetman Sahaidachny, as well as a Ka-27 helicopter and a special-purpose group with the staff armaments. Moreover, funds for participation of the Ukraine’s national contingent in these operations will be provided by the state budget of Ukraine.
As the document said, among the tasks of the national contingent involved in the Ocean Shield will be the patrolling of marine areas, protection, the deactivation and counteraction of pirate ships and assisting civil ships if necessary, actively searching for pirates and armed robbers at sea, and the prevention of their activities through the detention of ships and the arrest of property, protecting convoys of UN ships, ships with humanitarian aid assistance, etc.
The tasks of the national contingent while participating in the operation of the EU will be fighting piracy, the protection of civil ships fulfilling tasks for the world food program, as well as taking measures to prevent piracy or armed robberies.
The documents said that operations would be held in the north-western part of Indian Sea. The logistics supply points will be Djibouti (Republic of Djibouti), extra ones – Mombasa (Kenya) and Salalah (Sultanate of Oman).
As reported, on September 24, Yanukovych signed a law on the ratification of an agreement (in the form of an exchange of letters) between Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Ukraine’s participation in Operation Ocean Shield.Ukraine will provide support for this operation by sending its national contingent, in particular, the Hetman Sahaidachny frigate with a Ka-27 helicopter and a special-purpose group on board, for participation in the 90-day operation at its initial stage in the second half of 2013.
