Issued in 2018, this coin arrived at a fraught moment for the Ukrainian Navy — just four years after Russia's annexation of Crimea had stripped Ukraine of its main naval base at Sevastopol and forced a wholesale reorganization of the fleet around Odesa. The Navy had lost the majority of its shore infrastructure overnight, and several vessels were seized or defected. A commemorative coin honoring naval forces under those circumstances carries a pointed institutional weight that purely peacetime issues do not.
The following year, in November 2019, Russian forces would fire upon and capture three Ukrainian naval vessels in the Kerch Strait.
Issued in 2018, this coin arrived at a fraught moment for the Ukrainian Navy — just four years after Russia's annexation of Crimea had stripped Ukraine of its main naval base at Sevastopol and forced a wholesale reorganization of the fleet around Odesa. The Navy had lost the majority of its shore infrastructure overnight, and several vessels were seized or defected. A commemorative coin honoring naval forces under those circumstances carries a pointed institutional weight that purely peacetime issues do not.
The following year, in November 2019, Russian forces would fire upon and capture three Ukrainian naval vessels in the Kerch Strait.