Budanov Says Ukraine’s Second Corvette Nears Completion in Türkiye

“The Ukrainian Navy is getting stronger,” Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, wrote on Thursday after touring a shipyard in Istanbul.

He said he had inspected construction of the Hetman Ivan Vyhovskyi, the second Ada-class corvette the Turkish company STM is building for Kyiv.

“The work is in its final stages,” Budanov said.

Budanov Meets Ship’s Commander

During the visit, he met the corvette’s commander, Captain 2nd Rank Yurii Pyshchyk, and spoke with the Ukrainian crew.

“The sailors are ready for action, and preparations are in full swing,” he wrote.

Photographs released with the statement show officials and STM staff on the ship’s deck and beside its hull on the Istanbul waterfront.

First Voyage and Trials Still Ahead

Budanov said the next steps are “the ship’s first trip out to sea, trials, and handover to Ukraine.”

He did not announce a date. The statement makes clear the corvette has not yet sailed under its own power.

STM still lists the Hetman Ivan Vyhovskyi as scheduled for delivery in 2027. At the ship’s launch in August 2024, STM chief executive Özgür Güleryüz said it would make its first voyage in 2026 and be handed to Kyiv in the first quarter of 2027.

Second Ship in STM Contract

STM and Ukraine’s Defense Ministry signed the corvette contract on Dec. 17, 2020. The deal covers two ships built in Türkiye and a transfer of technology. STM describes the program as Türkiye’s first corvette export to Europe.

The first vessel, Hetman Ivan Mazepa, was launched on Oct. 2, 2022 and began sea acceptance trials on May 29, 2024.

Construction of the second ship began in 2022. Its keel was laid on Aug. 18, 2023, and it was launched in Istanbul on Aug. 1, 2024, with First Lady Olena Zelenska attending the ceremony.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named the vessel in March 2023 after Ivan Vyhovskyi, a 17th-century Cossack hetman.

The Ada class is a Turkish anti-submarine design under the MILGEM program, which also supplies ships to the Turkish Navy.

Ukraine originally planned to finish part of the work at home, but construction was moved entirely to Türkiye after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Turkish shipyards have since become a significant exporter of surface combatants, including the two corvettes ordered by Kyiv.

STM is also building Littoral Mission Ship Batch 2 vessels for Malaysia, which has already ordered the same Turkish missile now favored as a replacement for the navy’s Littoral Combat Ships.