«We can no longer build aircraft carriers»: Sienkevych calls for planning for the future, instead of thinking about «former power»

Mykolaiv City Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych at the conference «Mykolaiv — a city on the wave». Photo: Mykolaiv City Council

The mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, called on the people of Mykolaiv to give up illusions about the restoration of the city's former shipbuilding capacity, stressing that it is necessary to focus on future opportunities, and not on dreams of the past.

He said this during the conference «Mykolaiv — a city on the wave» in Kyiv, write «NikVesti».

«We need to accept the fact that today we can no longer produce aircraft carriers, and think about how we can use our past to plan for the future, and not just think about how powerful we were,» Oleksandr Sienkevych said.

Ukraine does not need large warships

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Evaluating today's realities, Oleksandr Sienkevych said that the modern war in Ukraine has shown that the country no longer needs large warships. He gave the example of the Russian cruiser Moskva, which was destroyed by the latest weapons, including missiles and drones, and not by another ship.

«It makes no sense for such a maritime country as Ukraine to produce large ships. We need to think about the mosquito fleet and what we can produce in Mykolaiv after the war,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

Note that the Mosquito fleet is small, fast and maneuverable warships that can attack the enemy unexpectedly and effectively. Unlike large ships, they cost less, are faster to build, and can work in groups to strike large ships.

Oleksandr Sienkevych cited the example of international shipbuilding companies, in particular the Dutch Damen. According to him, today the company designs ships, but builds them in countries with cheaper labor.

«Today, the Netherlands is not engaged in the production of ships, although God himself commanded. What they are doing is designing them, and they are designing in Mykolaiv, but these ships are manufactured in Vietnam, Korea, where it is cheaper,» said the mayor.

«Phantom pain» in shipbuilding

The mayor noted that the people of Mykolaiv still have a kind of «phantom pain» for lost shipbuilding. He compared it to the feeling of losing a limb. The mayor emphasized that illusions about former power prevent the city from moving forward.

«When you lose a limb, you have phantom pains, as if your leg hurts, although it is not there. You wear a prosthesis that will never replace your real leg, but you remember what it was like. The people of Mykolaiv still have these phantom pains regarding shipbuilding,» said the mayor.

Mykolaiv Shipyard, archival photo

Oleksandr Sienkovych stated that modern shipbuilding in Mykolaiv is destroyed and this process is irreversible. The mayor noted that the destruction of shipbuilding in Mykolaiv began in the 1990s, when, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, large shipbuilding plants that had previously belonged to the state began to be privatized.

«When I said that we need to rethink this, I received a mad wave of hate: «What, he wants to take shipbuilding away from us?». No, I can't take away something that doesn't exist. The Russian Federation began to privatize our shipbuilding factories in the 90s, and two of the three main factories were actually destroyed,» said the mayor.

Summarizing, according to Oleksandr Sienkevych, Mykolaiv should abandon its past ambitions for building large ships and refocus on more modern and economically justified projects. Instead of focusing on restoring its former industrial power, the city needs to find new directions for development, particularly in the field of a small, fast mosquito fleet that meets modern challenges and defense needs.

We will remind you that the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, wants the city to become a small Denmark on the shores of the Black Sea in the future — «rich, green and innovative».

It should be noted that the Kingdom of Denmark, after the end of the full-scale war, promised to help Mykolaiv to restore and modernize its shipbuilding capacity.