Sunk or put out of action
Kiev: One-third of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet destroyed
March 27, 2024, 7:47 a.m
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The Russian navy is clearly superior to the Ukrainian one. But the Ukrainian armed forces are putting more and more pressure on the enemy: a third of the Russian Black Sea Fleet has now been sunk or taken out of action, Ukraine says.
According to its own statements, Ukraine has sunk or disabled a third of all Russian warships in the Black Sea in just over two years of war. This was announced by Dmytro Pletenchuk, spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy. According to him, the latest attack last weekend hit the Russian amphibious landing ship “Kostiantyn Olshansky”, which was docked in Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea. The ship was Ukrainian before it was hijacked by Russia in 2014. “It is currently not combat-ready,” Pletenchuk explained.
The Navy spokesman also announced that two other landing ships of the same type, “Azov” and “Yamal”, as well as the reconnaissance ship “Ivan Churs” were damaged in the attack on Saturday. In addition, port facilities in Sevastopol and an oil depot were hit.
It was the second hit for the “Iwan Churs”: The reconnaissance ship was damaged for the first time in a Ukrainian attack in May 2023. “Our ultimate goal is the complete absence of military ships of the so-called Russian Federation in the Azov and Black Sea regions,” Pletenchuk said.
Russian withdrawal
According to Pletenchuk, Ukrainian-built Neptune anti-ship missiles were used in the latest attack. The Magura V5 surface drone, which the Ukrainian military intelligence service HUR helped develop specifically for the fight in the Black Sea, is responsible for many other successes.
This motorboat-like drone was used to sink the patrol boat “Sergei Kotov”, the most modern ship in the Russian Navy, at the beginning of March. On February 14, Ukraine destroyed the Russian landing ship named “Caesar Kunikov”. On the night of February 1st, the Russian missile ship Ivanovets was sunk.
Ukraine was able to record its first major success in the Black Sea in April 2022: with the help of Neptune missiles, it sank the then flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the cruiser “Moskva”. Just a month later, the frigate “Admiral Makarov” was hit. More successful hits followed.
As a result of the successful attacks, Russia has relocated many ships from Sevastopol in Crimea to Novorossiysk on Russia’s Black Sea coast in recent months. However, there were also successful attacks with Sea Baby drones there: Among other things, Ukraine was able to put the landing ship “Olenegorski gornjak” out of action there in August 2023.