Ukraine may lose its sea power status if it doesn't build warships and supply vessels for its navy, Chief of the Naval Forces of Ukraine's Armed Forces, Vice-Admiral, Serhiy Hayduk has said.

"Ukraine can't be a successful sea power, unless its Naval Forces develop," the Defense Ministry press service cited Hayduk as saying on Tuesday.

He noted that the maritime nation status was not an end in itself, but an important factor of economic and defense potential of the country. Besides, in the current situation, the urgent construction of warships, boats and supply vessels is a top priority, as otherwise Ukraine may lose its status of the sea power, the vice-admiral said.

"It's clear that construction and maintenance of the fleet is not a cheap undertaking, however, we have no way of developing the national Naval Forces," the commander said.

Hayduk said that last year the country managed to actually revive its coastal defense troops: "Due to the establishment of an integrated system, which is currently based on tube and rocket artillery units, the coastline of Odesa and Mykolaiv regions is secured."

"At the same time, the existing fleet of ships and boats is at present insufficient to ensure dominance in a particular area of the Black Sea. What is more, the resources of most of the ships and vessels of the national Naval Forces are almost coming to an end. Unless the fleet is attended to, unless it is renewed, our Naval Forces will disappear in a few years," the Naval Forces commander stressed.

According to Hayduk, in the past 20 years Ukraine has been finishing four battle ships, whose construction started back in the Soviet times. No new naval planes or helicopters have been built. With each year, the combat capabilities of the Naval Forces were decreasing, as "a ship by ship" was removed from active service.

In the opinion of the vice-admiral, today the navy should follow the political course taken by the Ukrainian leadership. What is more, all the power levels should include representatives of naval forces to lobby the interests of the navy.

"The first step to the fleet revival should be the resumption of funding for building warships, boats and support vessels, and above all – the resumption of financing for the main project – the creation of the corvette 'Volodymyr the Great'," the Naval Forces commander stressed.