According to Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine's navy, Russia's Black Sea Fleet has likely lost its last missile carrier in occupied Crimea.
On Sunday, a Ukrainian strike on the bay of Sevastopol in Crimea reportedly caused significant damage or sank both the Russian minesweeper Kovrovets and the corvette Cyclone (Tsiklon), Pletenchuk told Radio Svoboda, the Russian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The Karakurt-class corvette Tsiklon, which joined the Black Sea Fleet in July 2023, had previously failed routine tests twice in 2021 and 2022. Moscow put it into operation to give the appearance of fleet replenishment, Pletenchuk noted at the time.
"There is a fairly high probability that there is now not a single carrier of cruise missiles in Crimea if the information about the Cyclone is confirmed," Pletenchuk stated on Monday. He added, "Preliminarily, we are talking about the fact that, most likely, in total two units were hit. But we are still waiting for results."
Kyiv claims that a third of Russia's Black Sea warships have been sunk or disabled since the Ukraine war began. Ukraine aims to weaken President Vladimir Putin's fleet as part of efforts to reverse Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, which serves as a key logistics hub for Russian forces in southern Ukraine.
Satellite images indicate that Russia has relocated some of its Black Sea Fleet vessels from its Crimean port to avoid further losses from Ukrainian drone and cruise missile strikes. Photos from October showed the fleet moving from Sevastopol to Novorossiysk in southern Russia and to the naval port in Feodosia, farther east on the Crimean Peninsula. Recent satellite images shared by open-source intelligence researcher MT Anderson suggest the Black Sea Fleet has largely abandoned its major Crimean naval bases.
Last month, Russia announced that the Black Sea Fleet would receive three Karakurt-class ships by the end of the year to enhance its combat potential.
Most likely this is propaganda! But it needs to be confirmed.
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