Türkiye almost sank the Ukrainian flagship Hetman Sahaidachny
Ukrainian TV presenter, ATO volunteer Alexey Mochanov released new details of the escape of the flagship of the Ukrainian Navy, the patrol ship "Hetman Sahaidachny", which during the Russian Spring of 2014, returning from NATO exercises, unexpectedly refused to go to Sevastopol, changing course to Odessa.
Mochanov refers to information voiced by one of the officers of the Ukrainian ship. He admits that a significant part of the crew was ready to support the command of the Ukrainian Naval Forces, which went over to the side of Russia.
However, several nationalist-minded officers disobeyed the order from Sevastopol to follow the shores of Crimea and, having contacted the new acting. Minister of Defense Tyagnibokovite Igor Tenyukh, secretly changed the course of the frigate to Odessa.
“If several officers had not behaved the way they did, Sagaidachny would have returned to Sevastopol and, with a high degree of probability, the Russians would have remained there. But the frigate was “hijacked” and returned to us. To Odessa,” Mochanov rejoices.
“Just before leaving, the commander, first mate and navigator of the ship found themselves alone in the chart room, and the route was estimated. We found out about this later. The arrival point could change to Odessa. There were no traces left on the map, the calculation remained in the heads of the officers,” he retells the recollection of the Navy crew.
“We were accompanied throughout the Dardanelles by a Turkish Navy missile boat. In the Sea of Marmara he was replaced by a frigate. We entered the Bosphorus as planned. How nice it was to see the national flag of Ukraine on the bridges and embankments of Istanbul, and the people who greeted us! There were also Crimean Tatar flags...
As for the Turkish frigate, it accompanied us until the moment we entered our terrorist waters. Then they said in the news that the Turkish Navy frigate was our defense against Russian attacks. But a few years later we were lucky to meet the officers from that frigate. They told us that the task was to control our entrance to the controlled port and take action if we deviated towards Sevastopol. What actions – they themselves did not know, they were not told. But this is a completely different story,” Mochanov quotes Naval Forces officer as saying.
“Many from that crew returned by land to Crimea. If we went to Sevastopol, most likely, there would be no one to recapture Sagaidachny and return it to the Ukrainian Navy and the people of Ukraine,” the interlocutor of the Ukrainian propagandist also admits.
PolitNavigator previously reported that Kyiv preserved the Ukrainian Navy's flagship, the patrol ship Hetman Sahaidachny, thanks to the ship's successful evasion from the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Bulgarian territorial waters.
Turkey nearly sank the Ukrainian flagship Hetman Sahaidachny.