The Russian navy is making little use of Sevastopol’s bays for their ships after successful strikes by the Ukrainian Defense Forces, Natalia Humeniuk, head of the coordination press center of the Southern Defense Forces of Ukraine, said on national television on Oct. 22.
Russian ships are now setting out mainly from Novorossiysk, but the Russian military still remains dependent on the bays of Sevastopol.
“Sevastopol’s bays are rarely used,” Humeniuk said.
“However, they still have elements of important logistics there, in particular, the loading of Kalibr (cruise missiles) takes place there. And it is very difficult to move this logistics, this complex, so they will obviously still be dependent on these bays.”
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At the same time, Humeniuk noted that the level of threat to the Russians when moving the ship group by sea is extremely high, so they are staying in the area they consider safer for themselves.
“But the ghost of the (landing ship) Olenegorsky Gornyak is always lurking there,” Humeniuk said, referring to a Black Sea Fleet ship damaged by a Ukrainian sea attack drone on Aug. 4.
Earlier, Humeniuk said that there are no missile carriers of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the Black and Azov Seas, but the Russian forces can strike Ukraine from Novorossiysk Bay.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, the Russian military in Crimea has been transferring Black Sea Fleet ships to the port of Novorossiysk for several months.
How Ukraine attacks Russian ships in the Black Sea
On the morning of Oct. 13, social media reported an explosion on a ship near Sevastopol. It was likely a small missile ship of Project 21631 Buyan-M, which is a carrier of Kalibr missiles.
NV’s sources in Ukraine’s SBU security service reported that the SBU, together with the Ukrainian Navy, attacked the Russian Buyan cruise missile carrier and the Pavel Derzhavin ship using experimental sea attack drones.
Read also: Russian rescue tug also damaged in Ukrainian Navy’s attack on Pavel Derzhavin patrol ship
Later, the Ukrainian Navy clarified that during the attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet ships, in addition to the Pavel Derzhavin, the tugboat Nikolai Mura was damaged.
On Oct. 11, social media reported that the patrol ship Pavel Derzhavin of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was damaged near Sevastopol. Local Telegram channels reported that the ship could have hit a Russian mine.
The Ukrainian Navy later confirmed that the ship had been damaged, but did not specify under what circumstances.
Then on Sept. 14, Ukrainian forces attacked two Russian Vasily Bykov Project 22160 patrol ships in the southwestern Black Sea, which were damaged. A corvette, the Samum, was also hit. Naval drones were used in these special operations.
Earlier, powerful explosions rocked Russian-occupied Sevastopol in Ukraine’s Crimea. Russia announced an attack by missiles and naval drones (“unmanned boats”), acknowledging the strike on a shipyard and damage to two ships undergoing repairs.
Ukrainian intelligence said that the large landing ship Minsk and the submarine Rostov-on-Don were hit. They are beyond repair, Ukrainian intelligence said.
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