12,000 people came to the ceremony of launching the icebreaker Chukotka. Workers of the Baltic Shipyard, along with their families, the management of the enterprise and contracting organisations, government representatives and honoured guests, witnessed a new milestone in the development of the North Sea Route—the emergence of a new universal vessel capable of taming the might of the Arctic Ocean. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the event via video link. The head of state emphasised that the creation of modern icebreakers is a demonstration of the scientific and industrial power of the Russian Federation.

The new Chukotka is a universal icebreaker of Project 2220. The ship's hull is 174 m long, 24 m wide and the sides are 15 m high. Two nuclear reactors Ritm-200, each with a capacity of 175 MW, allow the ship to reach speeds of up to 22 knots on open water and up to two knots on ice. The vessel can conquer ice up to three metres thick and single-handedly carry tankers with a displacement of up to 100 thousand tons. The key difference of Project 2220 icebreakers is the ability to change the draft, which allows the vessels to enter relatively shallow ports and travel in the open ocean. It should be added that the ship's nuclear plant will need to be recharged only after 7 years, and the icebreaker's service life is designed for 40 years. After launching, the Chukotka will be moored at the Baltic Shipyard's pre-completion quay, where it will be brought to perfection until 2026. In total, United Shipbuilding Company intends to hand over seven icebreakers to the customer by 2030, with Yakutia to be delivered as early as this year. The draft federal budget for the period from 2025 to 2027 includes RUB 31.32 bn.

The new Chukotka is the fourth serial icebreaker—today the Arktika, Sibir and Ural break the ice along the Russian coast. The Yakutia and Leningrad are expected to be launched in the near future, and work on the Stalingrad is expected to begin in 2025. Russia's nuclear icebreaker fleet is set to become the most advanced and powerful of its time, ensuring year-round navigation along the North Sea Route. However, the country is still waiting for a truly epoch-making event. This is the launching of the Project 10510 icebreaker Lider, which is to become the most powerful icebreaker in the world. It will be 209.2 m long, 48 m wide and have a displacement of 71,000 tons. The vessel will be equipped with a pair of 315-MW Ritm-400 reactor units, which will enable it to navigate a corridor up to 50 m wide through four metres of ice. According to Sergey Zybko, Director General of NSR General Administration FSBI, the Lider is head and shoulders above the Project 2220 icebreakers. However, it is also many times more difficult to build. So far, the estimated launch date is set for 2030.

Nuclear icebreakers are only a stage on the way to a high-tech future. At the Creating the Future International Symposium at the Russia National Centre, Sergey Zybko spoke about the dreams maturing in Rosatom's design bureaus. The next generations of ships are expected to be driven by artificial intelligence and fully automated. He said a significant portion of the ship's energy (and resources in building the ship) is spent on crew life support. If the human component is removed, the icebreaker becomes much more efficient and cheaper to operate. Today, scientists have created a digital model of such a ship that could potentially pierce corridors in high-latitude ice.

The growth of Russia's icebreaker fleet is directly related to the dynamics of increasing cargo turnover along the NSR. According to the President of the Russian Federation, 34 mn tons were transported through the polar transport corridor in 2022, 36 mn tons in 2023, and a figure of 37.6 mn tons is expected this year.

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