According to a Ukrainian commander, the Black Sea is now left with only one “loser” missile ship from Russia following a string of successful attacks.
Captain Dmytro Pletenchuk informed Ukrainian TV that the majority of combat units have been relocated, excluding one underperforming unit that has not yet fired a single missile.
According to him, the only ship left in Crimea is Russia’s Cyclone warship, specifically a Karakurt-class corvette.
According to Pletenchuk, the Black Sea Fleet used to be regarded as Russia’s primary power in Crimea. However, it has since been largely forced out and relocated.
Ukraine has effectively employed missiles and drones to target ships at Sevastopol, which is Russia’s primary Black Sea port in Crimea.
Last month, a senior officer from the UK Royal Navy revealed that a quarter of Russia’s vessels in the Black Sea had either been sunk or suffered damages.
Over the weekend, Ukraine launched a series of missile attacks on the Russian fleet stationed at Sevastopol, resulting in significant damage to four ships.
The Ukrainian navy announced that it targeted two Russian large landing ships, namely the Yamal and the Azov, along with the spy ship Ivan Khurs and the Konstantin Olshansky large landing ship.
In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula and seized the latter ship from Ukraine.
After the most recent Ukrainian attack, the UK’s defense minister stated on March 25 that the Black Sea Fleet was “functionally inactive.”
On March 31, the UK defense ministry provided an additional intelligence update, revealing that recent imagery had identified four Russian barges positioned at the entrance to the Black Sea Fleet facility in Novorossiysk.
The department has acknowledged that this initiative aims to enhance the port’s defenses against Ukrainian Uncrewed Surface Vessels (USVs), which are remote-controlled vessels armed with explosives and deployed to target Russian ships.
According to the UK department, a number of the Black Sea’s prized assets sought shelter in the Novorossiysk port in the eastern Black Sea due to frequent attacks on their usual homeport of Sevastopol.
Adm. Viktor Sokolov, the former Commander of the Black Sea Fleet in Russia, reportedly faced dismissal following a series of effective Ukrainian attacks.
The UK defense department mentioned that Vice Adm. Sergei Pinchuk, his successor, has probably implemented precautionary measures to enhance the survival prospects of Russian vessels.