The Russian navy's Black Sea Fleet has been forced to rebase nearly all its combat-ready warships from occupied Crimea to other locations, and its main naval hub is becoming ineffectual because of attacks by Kyiv, Ukraine's navy chief said.
Vice-Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa said Ukrainian missile and naval drone strikes had caused heavy damage to the Sevastopol base, a logistics hub for repairs, maintenance, training and ammunition storage among other important functions for Russia.
"They were established over many decades, possibly centuries. And clearly they are now losing this hub," Neizhpapa told Reuters in a rare interview in the port city of Odesa ahead of Ukraine Navy Day on Sunday.
More than 28 months since Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv has dealt a series of stinging blows to Moscow in the Black Sea although Ukrainian ground troops are on the back foot across a sprawling front.
Ukraine, which has no major warships at its disposal, has used uncrewed naval boats packed with explosives to target Russian vessels, and pounded the fleet's facilities and other military targets on Crimea with Storm Shadow and ATACM missiles.
"Almost all the main combat-ready ships have been moved by the enemy from the main base of the Black Sea Fleet, and the ships are kept in Novorossiisk, and some of them are kept in the Sea of Azov," he said.
Russia's Novorossiisk naval base on its eastern Black Sea coast lacks the extensive facilities of Crimea's Sevastopol, which served as the storage and loading site for cruise missiles used by its warships to launch air strikes on Ukraine, he said.
"I understand that they are now trying to solve this problem in Novorossiisk," he said, describing this as a "main issue" for the fleet.
Russia's defence ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on Neizhpapa's remarks.
President Vladimir Putin told navy chiefs last month that Russia's fleet had been replenished over recent years and that a major modernisation was under way, including steps to "increase the combat stability of the fleet" and strengthen it.
Alongside strategic bombers and ground-based launchers, missile-carrying warships and submarines play an important role in Russia's regular long-range missile attacks.
Neizhpapa said Ukraine had destroyed or damaged 27 naval vessels, including five that he said were destroyed by sea mines laid by Ukrainian naval drones near the Bay of Sevastopol.
Moscow seized and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Before February 2022, Russia used its Black Sea Fleet, which consists of dozens of warships, to project power into the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
Throughout the Ukraine war, Turkey, which controls the straits in and out of the Black Sea, has not allowed warships to enter or exit.
DEFENSIVE POSTURE
In a sign of their more defensive posture, some Russian warships that seldom entered the Sea of Azov to the east of Crimea are now stationed there regularly, Neizhpapa said.
Monitoring data compiled by the Ukrainian Navy and provided to Reuters showed that as of June 27, 10 Russian warships were stationed in the Sea of Azov compared with none in 2023.
The Black Sea Fleet is primarily used now for logistics, a small amount of coastal territorial control and for firing Kalibr cruise missiles at Ukraine, he said.
He declined to say what Ukraine's future plans in the Black Sea would involve.
Ukraine's operations in the Black Sea have allowed it to establish and secure its own shipping corridor without Russia's blessing after Moscow pulled out of the wartime food export deal brokered by the United Nations last year.
The pushback began with Ukrainian coastal defences that allowed it to force naval vessels away. In April 2022, Ukrainian anti-ship missiles sank the Moskva, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, in a humiliating blow for the Kremlin.
With the addition of naval drone attacks and strikes, Russian warships do not enter the northwestern part of the Black Sea over an area of almost 25,000 square km (9,650 square miles), Neizhpapa said.
He said the delivery of U.S.-made F-16 fighter aircraft, expected to happen soon, would be a boost allowing it to challenge what he called Russia's "full dominance" of the skies over the Black Sea.
"F-16s with the right armaments will be able to push away Russian warplanes. The northwestern part of the Black Sea, particularly the corridor for civilian ships, will be almost 100% secure," he said.
He added that Ukraine would like to expand its shipping corridor, which currently only involves maritime traffic from three of the main Odesa ports, to include the ports of Mykolaiv and Kherson, but that it was not possible.
He cited Russia's control over the Kinburn Spit, which juts out along that route.
Civilian vessels are accompanied by patrol boats in some areas to help with protection against mines, and air defences provided cover both to the ports and the corridors, he said.
The volume of cargo through the corridor has stabilised over the last six months, with Ukraine operating two daily convoys of vessels in comparison with one in 2023.
© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024.
67 Comments
Mr Kipling
Russia "annexed" land it already had, every single Russian base in Crimea was already there. Crimea is as Russian as Russian gets.
Ukraine has had some success in hitting and destroying some Russian naval ships in the Black Sea but nothing that is going to change the outcome of this conflict.
Ukraine no longer has a navy.
isabelle
Well, the job should be much easier for you, Vlad, now that you have hardly any ships left to modernize.
Looking forward to seeing the sorry remnants of your once-feared Black Sea fleet joining the Moskva, Sergey Kotov, Saratov, Askold, Rostov-na-Donu, Minsk, etc., etc...
Mr Kipling
Also interesting that this slightly positive Ukraine story is today's Ukraine news and not the collapse of Ukrainian defenses on numerous fronts over the past few days. Something that does actually make a difference.
PeaceIsReal
They’re not losing anything. Russia is considering leaving where they’ve invaded.
ClippetyClop
Putin made a greedy, grave mistake in trying to conquer Ukraine.
It will still be a graveyard for many more thousands of Russians when he dies.
He should have stuck to stealing just Crimea. He might have got away with that.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Why is Russia annexing anything? Criminal on all counts.
Ukraine doesn't need a navy as long as Russia is too scared to harass shipping.
bass4funk
Don’t think so, definitely not in his eyes, but Zelenskyy should have opted for peace negotiations.
And even more for the smaller Ukrainian population.
As the West encroaches more towards Russia, personally, I would feel comfortable if the Chinese were putting missiles or establishing a foothold in Hawaii or Alaska, so I get it.
ClippetyClop
Thanks for that Captain Obvious.
The rest of your post is just a typical MAGA Putin love in, and can be dismissed.
wallace
As the West encroaches more towards Russia,
Where did the West encroach on Russia? It is the world's largest country with nine time zones.
ClippetyClop
Dunno, but it seems it’s made Bass to hope the Chinese put missiles on Hawaii or Alaska.
MAGA going all in on murderous regimes in the hope they can pick up some methods.
wallace
Russian missiles are very near to Alaska since you can walk between both countries when the waters are frozen.
TaiwanIsNotChina
An acceptable ceasefire offer has never been made to Ukraine.
But that's not what's important as Ukrainians are fighting for their freedom. You understand that on this particular day, no?
What "encroachment" happened after 2004? What missiles were moved closer? Get your Russian talking points down to specifics. Probably a freudian slip, but yes, Trump probably will be comfortable with Chinese missiles in Hawaii or Alaska.
wallace
Do the Chinese know you must pay to visit Waikiki Beach these days?
bass4funk
Relax
You’re the one that brought him into the conversation, not me. You ok?
A what???? Huh?
bass4funk
Hmm…this is the reason you can’t have a dialogue with libs. They don’t under hypotheticals.
I have no idea what that senseless rant even means, but back to my original point, I wouldn’t want that either if the Chinese or the Iranians or some other adversary would try to encroach on our sovereign territory or near it.
Not as near and if you want to walk, go and try it. Lol! Let’s not forget they share a racial and cultural history Ukraine and Russia.
wallace
You introduced Chinese missiles in Hawaii.
wallace
The distance between Russia and Alaska is less than five miles.
bass4funk
It never happened so we don’t know the outcome, Biden and his administration saw to that.
It is veeery important.
I do and I’m talking about over the last 2 years
No
And dragons fly pizza trucks as well.
ClippetyClop
I thought you didn’t do hypotheticals?
Where on Alaska or Hawaii would Chinese missiles make you the most good?
Or are you not doing hypotheticals anymore?
bass4funk
And I said, there is no way that we will allow the Chinese to put them there
Thank God for the nukes! And that’s how you maintain peace. Excellent point. Again, don’t like the guy, but can’t fault him on his distrust of the west.
jackandjill
If posters are suffering from the heat drink cold water.
bass4funk
I don’t, but we need them
Nowhere.
wallace
bass4funk
On what post did you say that?
JeffLee
For the same reason that Churchill should have opted for peace negotiations, right?
bass4funk
?
Big fan of Churchill, really, but I’m not talking about him with all due respect. Just trying to have a civil debate, focus on the topic, definitely not me.
ClippetyClop
So why would them being there make you feel good?
So you do do them.
Take a break Bass, and in that break seek help.
bass4funk
What? Again, relax
You do if you want.
Go, if you feel the need.
bass4funk
Both men agreed to restart the peace process for the conflict in eastern Ukraine. They also decided to exchange all prisoners. But, they couldn't agree on key issues like when to hold local elections and who will control the borders in the rebel areas.
This was the first meeting between Zelenskiy and Putin. They did not reach a compromise to end the five-year war, which has killed 14,000 people and changed politics in Europe. Macron and Merkel helped mediate the talks. They all agreed to meet again in four months to look for new solutions, it was looking sweet, but Biden came in and well, the rest is history and here we are.
wallace
To date, there has been no "peace process" to restart.
"This was the first meeting between Zelenskiy and Putin"
Prewar back in 2019.
ClippetyClop
I'm perfectly calm dude. Calmer than you are.
Back to the Chinese missiles thing. Where on Alaska and Hawaii would they make you the most comfortable?
TaiwanIsNotChina
It never happened but Biden stopped it. Going to need someone to make sense of this.
The war has been going on for two years. What ah started it that needs to be put back in his place?
Well you never know. He has shown incredible weakness on everything else.
bass4funk
Yes, so you just made my point for me. Anyway, we are here now, you can’t beat fate.
I don’t think so. If you were, you wouldn’t need to jump all over me.
Before you waste your time, I already answered that. No need to ask, because the answer won’t change.
TaiwanIsNotChina
The history is the US has been in varying degrees of war with Russia for 100 years and Putin decided an invasion was the appropriate response to his own failure to comply with Minsk.
TaiwanIsNotChina
The US doesn't make accommodations with hostile countries, at least until 47 gets at the podium and tells us what his official policy is.
ClippetyClop
You said you wanted Chinese missiles on Hawaii or Alaska because of Ukraine / Russia and I simply wanted to know why and where you wanted them.
So go on, give us another one of them hypotheticals that you don't do before you start the evening shift.
bass4funk
It was going to get underway, and this administration put a monkey wrench in it
?
How about staying out of NATO?
Now that was the funniest thing I heard all week. ROLF!
bass4funk
You choose.
Evening shift? If you could only try and focus on the topic we would all be better for it. It’s not that serious, believe me.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Assuming you are talking about Ukraine, how exactly was Ukraine going to get into NATO after 2014? In terms of the US, what does Russia do for us besides interfere to get your man elected that we should tell clear allies they can't get in to please them?
Antiquesaving
Another feel good propaganda story!
Hey, it is a land war 99% and Ukraine is losing more and more land daily.
Don't believe me, I again refer to DeepStatemap, pro Ukrainian site and its interactive map of the battlefields!
While the Ukrainians are running around trying to make themselves look strong, diverting attention from everywhere but the actual front lines, Russia is moving forward in every single area in the south while 6,000 Russians keep 30,000 Ukrainians busy in the Kharkiv region.
The reason for this article?
Because Russia has now pushed Ukraine out of Robotyne and will soon have Ukraine back to where it started its great offensive last year, Russia has now taken the canal lines including Chasiv Yar micro district and crossed the canal north and south of the may city of Chasiv Yar, it has move into a pincer movement around Niu-York heading straight for Toretsk!
Ukraine has been fully pushed out of the Krynky region and the island on the Dnipro river and now is only on the western bank.
In less than 2 months Russia has taken more territory than in 2023!
Even the NY times is pointing out Ukraine is losing!
But hey let's keep up the illusion or is it delusion!
bass4funk
I don’t think Ukraine should be anywhere near Or in NATO, personally and to be honest, I don’t understand why we still need that organization, I think China is the real threat, but Russia….
This it’s just going to escalate and it’s going to only get worse for Ukraine. By the time Russia takes control of it. It won’t be anything left, but a big pile of heap and the displaced society.
TaiwanIsNotChina
It's a long way to Kyiv or to even take back Ukraine's successes in 2022.
Antiquesaving
Sure it does, ask anyone in the middle east!
It did it on multiple occasions!
If it is in the USA interests they would deal with Hitler, Stalin, Pinochet, Saddam Hussein, etc... most of whom they did make deals with!
TaiwanIsNotChina
There's that whole 100 year history with Russia thing and the fact the Russia is China's main ally. I realize these are uncomfortable facts for your beliefs about Russia being the saintly christian ethnostate you always dreamed of.
Then Ukrainians will be in fine position to deliver sweets to Russia on behalf of the west and keep them otherwise out of our hair.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Also 50% of Ukraine is not destroyed.
TaiwanIsNotChina
No it did not give concessions to a major adversary.
Are you under the impression any of these guys died of old age? Well Stalin did, but that is your hero, not mine. I agree, though, that we should not have done lend-lease with the SU in WW2 and let the chips fall where they may.
Zaphod
Actually it is more than that. It is and has been for hundreds of years the only warm water port and main base for Russian navy.
So ironically, he is making the case for Russia and against the US. There is no world in which any Russian government (and that has nothing to do with Putin) can accept Sevastopol as a Nato harbour and the Black Sea as a Nato lake. None. This would be as acceptable to Russia as Soviet missiles in Cuba are to the US.
So the whole push to drive Russia out of Crimea and get the Ukraine into Nato is simply a push to WW3.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Well Russia can't use Sevastopol now so I guess mission accomplished?
bass4funk
Getting there.
I have no idea what tangent you’re on. Really annoying, but focus for a moment. I get all that, but China has an overall bigger and more modern and Weaponized and unproven military compared to China, where they best perform is manpower, but I’m not as worried as the air power in the sea power.
Well, they better hurry, because time is running out, especially from the side of things, because the way it looks right now after January, they won’t be able to count on the US that much anymore, God willing.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Very far from it. Putie knows nukes are an actual red line and those are the only thing able to reach that much destruction.
You're supporting Russia which helps China.
We'll see, but I suspect even second term Trump won't want to be seen grabbing his ankles in the white house press briefing room.
Antiquesaving
Sure but since 2022 what has Ukraine done?
Oh right, lose more territory, lose more men.
In 2020 Ukraine had over 700,000 going against 200,000.
Today we have no idea what Ukraine actually has left but seeing the minimum given in needed replacements is 200,000 and Ukraine's own military says it needs 500,000 it doesn't look good.
While the west says Russia has 600,000 in Ukraine, another 300,000 to 500,000 in reserve in Russia and 300,000 conscripts in Russia (contrary to all the claims made here, Russia conscripts are prohibited from going to Ukraine to fight because officially it isn't a war).
CBC reported on wounded Ukrainian soldiers.
A man taken from his home that was in remission for cancer that under the new conscription laws was no longer exempt less than 8 weeks training sent to the front and wounded by day 2.
The same for nearly everyone the interviewed taken by force given less than 8 weeks training and sent to the front only to be wounded (The lucky ones unlucky are killed within a few days at the front).
Officially conscripts get 34 days training and are sent to forward units.
This is desperation.
JJE
The naval battle in this conflict is a sideshow to the main event - the ground battles which will determine the winner and loser and who will lose territory.
We know who has the initiative there. BSF fleets are launching volleys of kalibr cruise missiles from the Azov sea at militant positions; that can be confirmed.
bass4funk
So then they don’t need aid from us anymore?!! Well, that’s fantastic news!
And so if Vlad crosses that red line Europe is going to do what exactly?
I don’t and you don’t speak for me. Told you a thousand times I’m no fan of Russia or Vlad. Saying it another thousand is not going to change my opinion.
If the left and Europe thinks so, I’m good with that, I just want to present that put America first and foremost. We need to take care of our backyard first before we help others, and then we can visit the Ukraine issue again.
bass4funk
And for the record, I don’t like Zelenskyy either, I don’t see any differences between him or Vladimir, they’re both opposites are the same coin it’s just that Vlad has a bigger country and a much larger military, but overall they’re the same, cut from the same cloth.
Kuku
Whether it's true or not, I cannot judge due to incompetence. But a purely logical conclusion suggests itself (and is deeply planned) that Russia must regain Russian cities, ports, Kherson, Nikolaev and Odessa completely and thoroughly. And then don’t be surprised that you weren’t warned. Half of the population in Ukraine remains. The combat-ready male population is about one million. Who will defend these cities? ...for the sake of the American boss
Christopher
Sorry JT. Delete the previous hit the send button to soon.
Donald Trump and MAGA want to punish both sides. Do not think for a moment what the Donald is saying is true. That he can end the war as Presidential elect.-Lies all of it. Fantasy, Make Believe. Fairy dust. La La land.
Ukraine and Russia are fighting till the death. Till one is left standing. It is the modern day European war. And eventually. If not careful, we will all be dragged in full force. No matter whose in office in the White house. Lets some of those NATO approvals start flying! Trump has bit off way way more than he can chew with that bold promise.
Want to hear something familiar?
Following Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Lebensraum became an ideological principle of Nazism and provided justification for the German territorial expansion into Central and Eastern Europe. The Nazi policy on the main plan was based on its tenets. And expanded living space for Germans. This now called called Annexation.
This is what runs through Putin's veins and his life's mission. Restoration of the USSR. Plain and simple and clear. Crystal clear.
Is Putin evil? Was Hitler evil for wanting to bring Austria back into Germany? Which he did by the way without firing a single bullet. All you need to do is look in to the past and see history repeating itself.
On the current path. The current situation. We Americans continue to squabble divide argue and be petty, While our adversaries continue to grow in power and strength.
Ramsey's Kitchen
Well Russia can't use Sevastopol now so I guess mission accomplished?
Ukraine's success with their sea drones is the one bright spot in their fight against Russia, that's for sure.
However, how long until mission iaccomplished and the superior game changers led by mighty unleashed Leopards and Abrams push Russians out of Crimea and Donbass is the bigger question.
The counter offensive was supposedly gonna run the Russian shovel welding rabble out of Crimea in a matter of weeks last year according to JT NAFO experts. Updates?
Kuku
Not be said by night, but Orban has arrived in Moscow. Szijjártó, Lavrov...already smiling in front of the cameras.
Ramsey's Kitchen
Not be said by night, but Orban has arrived in Moscow.
Cue the upset NAFOs calling Orban traitor to EU.
bass4funk
He can always stop aid to Ukraine.
How?
Huh? What does that even mean?
wallace
bass4funk
If the US is attacked NATO will be there, just like it did on 9/11.
zibala
The Russian navy's Black Sea Fleet has been forced to rebase nearly all its combat-ready warships from occupied Crimea to other locations, and its main naval hub is becoming ineffectual because of attacks by Kyiv, Ukraine's navy chief said.
I hope the countries in the West that provoked and instigated Putin into invading Ukraine don't fall for this propaganda.
DizLass
I'm interested in what you think 'will need to give'.
Appeasing Hitler did not prevent WW2, in fact it only led to him becoming more aggressive, and then to the eventual outbreak of WW2.
Putin is clearly wanting to expand his territory at the expense of his neighbors, so why do you think appeasing him further will not lead to WW3? He even uses similar racial ideologies and propaganda as Hitler.
Ambitious, violent men are not appeased by appeasement. They are appeased by defeat. History teaches us this.
bass4funk
They have no choice actually. They’re not going to help the largest economy. The U.S. economy is the largest in the world. As of 2023, our (GDP) was approximately $26.7 trillion, accounting for about 24% of the global economy, not to mention The U.S. has the world’s largest and most influential financial markets, including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ. Movements in these markets often impact global financial markets and then you have the dollar which is the world’s primary reserve currency, used in international transactions and held by central banks as part of their foreign exchange reserves, factor all that in, of course Europe will help, a lot would be at stake for them if they didn’t.
Now sending troops to fight in a war on our Pacific side, no one in Europe is going to send their troops, that’s not going to happen.
Ramsey's Kitchen
Pretending that people are pretending that Ukraine is winning is dishonest and naive. Nobody is winning this war and you have no idea who will.
An unbiased 10 year old would tell you that Russia is slowly but surely taking territory therefore it is winning. They are paying high cost, sure, but they are taking territory and moving forward. NAFO says Putin does not care how many casualties it takes and they have somewhat of a point, Putin will not let Ukraine turn into a NATO member country. This is Russia,s backyard, part of their ancient Rus. Something most American posters here have trouble comprehending.
Fortunately, unlike The Three Putineers here, we actually know our facts and history.
Except your version of " facts" is factually wrong.
Antiquesaving
Now who would they be?
People that point out facts and the exact same facts that are in articles in the NY times, on the BBC, on CBC etc...?
I guess now that the NY times had an article says Ukraine is losing territory daily, has lost hundreds of thousands of men despite Ukraine's denial, that Ukraine isn't able to recruit men and men are in hiding to not get grabbed of the streets.
I guess that makes NY times a "Putin apologists" by your standards.
I guess CBC is also a "Putin apologists" for pointing out the situation, the snatch and grab conscription and the poor training and short life span if conscripts in Ukraine.
The same for BBC for saying the same things as CBC and the NY times.
You see nothing I wrote and clip took offence to was anything other than what was in reports by the BBC, CBC, NY times, etc... everything was from western MSM.
Kuku
Over the last week, Russia bombed 10 Ukrainian planes and one helicopter at airfields.
Can this be called that Russia is losing?
TaiwanIsNotChina
And funny enough, such stories only remove one drop from the bucket of war crimes that is Russia.