The Mine Countermeasures Headquarters of the 1st Mine Countermeasures Ship Division of the Ukrainian Navy underwent a NATO Evaluation Level 2 (NEL-2) assessment and achieved “Mission Capable” status. This marks the first time a Ukrainian unit has been officially integrated into the Alliance’s multinational force command system for naval mine countermeasures. This was reported on July 24 by the Ukrainian Navy Command.
The assessment took place during the Ukrainian-American exercise Sea Breeze 2026: this year’s maritime phase is being held in the United Kingdom, near Portland.
The NATO-confirmed NEL-2 level means that the headquarters is capable of carrying out combat missions in accordance with the standards of the Alliance’s Allied Command Operations forces. Preparation for this achievement took three years.
Sea Breeze 2026 is conducted under the joint leadership of Ukraine and the United States and this year encompasses three locations simultaneously:
- The land component, which has already been completed in Romania.
- A separate Ukrainian group is working on salvage operations in the Baltic states.
- The maritime phase focused on mine countermeasures is ongoing off the British coast. In addition to Ukrainian Sandown- and Alkmaar-class vessels, it involves ships from France, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, and Poland. All of them are carrying out tasks under the coordination of the Ukrainian headquarters.
According to Ukrainian Navy spokesperson Captain 2nd Rank Dmytro Pletenchuk, the practical goal of the exercises is to develop a capability that will allow partners to be engaged in the future in a mine-clearing operation in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
Currently, two Ukrainian teams evaluated during Sea Breeze 2026 have declared their readiness to join an international mine-clearing operation in the Strait of Hormuz, should a corresponding decision be made.
