Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to ensure the establishment of a Naval Academy as a higher military educational institution.
In his decree, the president noted that the academy will be established on the basis of the Institute of Naval Forces at the National University “Odesa Maritime Academy.”
On July 4, Volodymyr Zelenskyy also visited the Odesa region, where he held a meeting with the Command of the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine regarding security issues in the region. Also, on the eve of Ukrainian Navy Day, the president met with Navy personnel, congratulated them on the holiday, and presented them with state awards.
In May, the institute announced that, for the first time since 2014, faculties had been established at the Naval Forces Institute. There were three:
- The Faculty of Armaments—which trains navigators, artillery and missile specialists, torpedo operators, and communications specialists;
- The Faculty of Naval Power Engineering and Diving Operations trains ship engineers and military divers. It also covers fundamental science;
- The Facultyof Leadership provides instruction in general military disciplines, conducts specialized physical and language training (with a focus on English), and shapes future officer leaders.
A separate step in reforming the training system wasthe consolidation ofthe Institute’s training courses into a single cadet battalion, intended to strengthen service organization, military discipline, and the cohesion of future naval officers.
At the time, this was described as a step toward transforming the educational institution into a modern Naval Academy.
The Institute of Navalof the National University “Odessa Maritime Academy”—is a higher education institution subordinate to the Ministry of Defense, operating as part of a civilian university and training specialists for the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
On April 4, 2014, 103 cadets of the P.S. Nakhimov Naval Academy, were transferred to Odesa along with part of the institution’s command and teaching staff following the annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation. Pursuant to a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, in June 2014, the P.S. Nakhimov Naval Academy was dissolved, and the Faculty of Naval Forces of the “Odesa National Maritime Academy” was established. In July 2016, the faculty was reorganized into the Institute of Naval Forces of the National University “Odesa Maritime Academy.”
Starting in 2024, in accordance with the action plan for implementing the “Strategy for Ukraine’s Maritime Security,” the reorganization of the Naval Forces Institute of the National University “Odessa Maritime Academy” began, under which the institute will receive the status of an independent higher education institution. The reorganization is scheduled to be completed by 2028.
Кирило Бойко