Dnipro River now guarded by 40 Defiant patrol boats

40 Defiant patrol boats which Ukraine received from the U.S. Navy have been spotted in the waters of the Dnipro River.

Footage of such a boat appeared on social media.

This is the first footage with this American boat to be captured on the Dnipro River.

The 40 Defiant patrol boat was developed by Metal Shark based in Louisiana.

The United States announced the transfer of patrol boats last June.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces were to receive six boats of this class.

In addition, Metal Shark is building a batch of patrol boats of three different classes with aluminum hulls for the Ukrainian Navy under American military assistance programs.

These boats include Defiant 38-foot small patrol boats equipped with a closed wheelhouse, Defiant-type 38-foot small patrol boats without a closed wheelhouse, and Fearless 36-foot interceptors boats.

They are being built at Metal Shark facilities in Franklin and Jeanerette, Louisiana, and in 2022 the company said it would “begin shipping these boats immediately”.

As previously reported, the Ukrainian Navy mastered the high-speed boats of Metal Shark in 2021.

At that time ten RIB-type 7-meter boats with a rigid hull of the American company were provided to Ukraine from the United States.

7M RIB are multi-purpose boats for shallow water operations. They have a fiberglass hull, which is sheathed around the perimeter, as well as inflatable cylinders made of durable material.