However, these are ships that did not officially sail for the UKR.

The pictures of the PROLIV DIANY from 1997/98 (after the lifeboats were reduced) show that the ship did not have the modified Davids. therefore it can almost be ruled out.

It seems to be different with the Proliv Nadezhdy. It seems that the Davids were modified compared to the 1996 picture:
https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/3046243

Unfortunately, the picture is very small, but the Davids appear to have a higher base and to have a cross-brace under the boom, like the ones on the mystery ship.
https://www.fotoflite.com/images/virtuemart/product/resized/223911_450x450.jpg

We had always assumed a UKR ship, but the ship could well be a charter ship. This would explain the blue funnel.
Also, the lifeboats seem to have the same lighter cover compared to their hulls.
It is therefore quite possible that it is indeed the PROLIV NADEZHDY, in charter UKR.

Searching by PROLIV on Fotoflite shows more vesseles also had blue funnel:
PROLIV DIANY:
https://www.fotoflite.com/store/general-cargo-ship/proliv-diany-5-detail 1997
https://www.fotoflite.com/store/general-cargo-ship/proliv-diany-6-detail 1998
PROLIV NADEZHDY:
https://www.fotoflite.com/store/general-cargo-ship/proliv-nadezhdy-1-detail 1998 & on funnel it's not UKR

My final thoughts on this ship.
The ship is not a mystery, it is a ghost.
True, all UKR ships had a black funnel. I have not been able to find a picture, other than our ghost, with a blue one. As the ship still has all the lifeboats, the photo must have been taken in the 1990s. There is a possible explanation for the blue funnel. The ship was sold, got a blue funnel and was then chartered back and got the UKR sign.
The KAMCHATSKIY PROLIV did not have the modified Davids, at least until 1992, as can be seen in the picture. https://www.fotoflite.com/images/virtuemart/product/resized/131511_450x450.jpg
The 50 LET SSSR also sailed for the UKR and probably also had the modified Davids, but the name does not match. The white base is still available.
https://www.fotoflite.com/images/virtuemart/product/resized/214993_450x450.jpg
The PROLIV SANNIKOVA had the Davids, but had a black funnel. Chartered before shipyard stay, blue funnel, black again in shipyard? She looks repainted in the picture.
https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/2597556
Then there is the mysterious KERCHEMSKIY PROLIV, of which there are hardly any pictures and all of which predate the UKR. Could she be our ghost with the Davids and blue funnel?
I think the ship will remain a ghost for the time being, despite all our efforts.

Those vessels while being under USSR ownership initially had black funnels with red stripe on them, so once some of them became Ukrainian they simply had that blue oval with yellow UKR painted on thier funnels & remains of the red stripe were painted black. The mystery ship has entire funnel as blue (it looks so, not black), with blue oval & yellow UKR.
So far among all available on the web photos of all ships of this design, as Gerolf earlier mentioned, the KAMCHATSKIY PROLIV had her funnel blue (the oval with UKR probably was painted over by then): https://fleetphoto.ru/photo/363607/?vid=20514 - name on the bow is placed too high, but the earlier Cyrillic one was written on it's usual place. On https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/1227875 the top of the mast on superstructure was eventually upgraded receiving 2 additional posts. Those 2 elements on the superstructure I highlighted earlier don't exist on this ship same as on mystery ship. However, the cabins remain similar to intial ones (they never were replaced or they were replaced twice?), 3 davits are no longer there (I doubt if they were upgraded they would be eventually removed, more likely initial davits were removed), 2 T-posts on top of the 2nd pair of kigposts were removed. Btw, the mystery ship has upper part of that port side T-post as bent a bit. Also, there's no photos of KAMCHATSKIY PROLIV having orange stripes on bridge wings but them orange might have been temporal.

Also the mystery ship has it's horns (red) on tops of both fore kinposts, KAMCHATSKIY PROLIV has them similar, but https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/2947542 has only 1 at port side kingpost top. I noticed some ships had 2 horns, some only on port side kingpost - maybe they were initially like that as built.

The KERCHENSKIY PROLIV has also puzzled me for some time. I have searched the internet and books, and there is no picture of her from the late 1980s onwards. She is a mystery ship, which would fit our photo.
Have also tried again with the computer to get the name legible, but the grain makes it difficult. The first name seems to end with KRY, which makes no sense. If I follow the description on https://fleetphoto.ru/vessel/85018/, it seems to have been given the name in Latin letters only from 1999 onwards.
Therefore, the name on the photo could still be in Kyrylian letters. Then it would be "KNN" for the KERCHENSKIY PROLIV. Due to the heavy weathering that is common for these ships, the name could also be damaged, as in the picture where the KERCHENSKIY PROLIV lies in the background: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Fryderyk_Chopin_Paljassaare_sadamas_1986.jpg.
Again, the last letters of the first name are not easy to read.
It is quite possible that this ship later received the update of the davits and was also equipped with the steering cabins. After all, you could be right Denis. It could really be the KERCHENSKIY PROLIV. which also sailed for the UKR. Then a photo of the msyster ship would have surfaced.

I'll come back to the topic again. we were always fixated on these control stands. However, the design in the photo was not standard on these ships. When I happened to see this picture:
https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/3145378.
I realised that these were possibly replacements, perhaps because of damage, from other ships such as the Ostrov Russkiy type. These were then later replaced again. That's why there are probably so few photos with these control stands. Therefore, I no longer see them as a feature for the identity of the ship.

That's why I looked at the 3 small Davids. They have a conspicuously high base. I have only been able to find this design on the PROLIV SANNIKOVA - IMO 7534165. This ship was also under the Ukrainian flag from 1993 to 1999. The photo should then be from the mid-1990s. The reduction of the lifeboats in the other photos suggests that she was in the shipyard in 1996. Therefore, based on the Lithuanian flag, the photo could have been taken on the way to the shipyard in Klaipeda.
https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/2947542
https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/2597556

After all, I change my mind. I think the ship on the photo is the PROLIV SANNIKOVA.

I looked again at pictures of all the ships. Only the PROLIV KRUZENSTERNA - IMO 7830947 had the version of the control cabins. Unfortunately, in the photo the name is very crumbly and blurred, so that one can hardly determine its length with certainty, let alone the number of letters. The flag in the foremast is most likely Lithuanian, yellow, green, red. If it is the PROLIV KRUZENSTERNA, the photo must have been taken before she was renamed SKRIVERI in 1992. As Rick already wrote, she never officially ran for Ukraine. The question remains, was she chartered?
The PROLIV LONGA, on the other hand, was under Ukrainian flag. However, she does not have this type of control house on any photo. But there is also no picture on the internet that shows her before 1997. One thing is striking about the picture: https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/2593465
The control stations look very new compared to the rest of the ship. It cannot be ruled out that they had just been replaced.

Unfortunately, it is not known when the photo was taken. Due to the fact that the satellite system cannot be made out, it is likely to be before 1997.
I think it is difficult to make a definite statement at the moment.

Hi friends,
I have a new guess, Kamchatskiy Proliv:
THe first word ist longer than the second, so that would fit.
Of that vessel exist several fotos on shipspotting, the first of 1995 with UKR in the funnel, but still black, the second of 2005 with a blue blue funnel, but nothing written on the funnel, and several of 2009/2010 with a blue funnel an a white sign on the funnel, but unortunately not UKR.
Could it be, that the vessel hat between 1995 and 2005 still the UKR sign, but with a blue funnel, than it could be that vessel.
Gerolf

Hi, PROLIV LONGA is still alive. Now operates at Russian Far East. Photos may be seen here: https://fleetphoto.ru/vessel/60524/
There is one picture from Klaipeda in 1997 (https://fleetphoto.ru/photo/299066/?vid=60524). The funnel logo is very similar to the one above. At that time she was operated by YugRefTransFlot (Ukraine, UKR). Most likely this is photo from that time.

Adjusting brightness/contrast shows the 2nd word in a name has same length as 1st word or shorter than it, whole name isn't very long too. Maybe PROLIV LONGA? All ships here: https://fleetphoto.ru/projects/2311/

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, their collective fishing fleets were in disarray. Many, if not all of those in the Ukrainian fleet were retained by the Ukraine.
In the late 1990's and onwards, I saw many Ukrainian trawlers displaying the same funnel colours, or with black background, as on this ship:-
a blue background with a yellow ringed, lighter blue disc thereon, with the letters 'UKR' in yellow.

Let us assume that this ship is, as Christina says, the Proliv Kruzenshterna' which was Latvian owned until being scrapped, albeit under Belize /Panamanian flag from 1997.
With regards to this ship, the courtesy flag at the foremast 'appears' to be the red/white/red flag of Latvia. N.B. NOT the Pilot flag at the mainmast.

So, if the ship had to display a courtesy flag for Latvia, the photo can be dated to after 1997, when the ship had 'foreign' registry. The port she is entering, will most likely be Riga.

Latvia, either before, or after the dissolution never had a large fleet of deep-water fishing vessels, but Ukraine did.
Note the number of large 'Yokohama' type fenders used for STS functions stored on the deckhouses.
I suggest that the ship was chartered by the Ukraine, from the Latvian owners, the 'Riga Transport Fleet', for collection and delivery of frozen fish, from the offshore Ukrainian fleet, for delivery to Latvia (& elsewhere).

My analysis may explain the background circumstances. I hope it is of some help!

An example of the 'UKR' funnel: https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/875944?navList=gallery&imo=8724315&page=1&viewType=normal&sortBy=newest
Regards, Rick

Possibly KAPITAN KIRICHENKO - IMO 8832069