Russian official recognises Black Sea Fleet was forced to leave Crimea due to Ukrainian UAV attacks

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO — Sunday, 20 October 2024, 16:57

Dmitry Rogozin, the former head of Roscosmos, Russia's national space agency, as well as the Russian-backed "head" of the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, revealed that the Russian Federation's Black Sea Fleet altered its location due to strikes from Ukrainian naval drones.

Source: Rogozin in an interview with Moskovsky Komsomolets, as reported by Meduza, a Latvia-based Russian news agency

Quote: "If we go back to weapons systems and the modifications that occurred during the special military operation [as the Russians refer to the war against Ukraine – ed.], the methods of combat use, the Black Sea Fleet provides an interesting example.

It was forced to modify its place of residence [i.e. its docking space – ed.] since our massive ships had become easy targets for unmanned enemy boats."

Background:

  • On 1 February, Defence Intelligence of Ukraine reported that soldiers of the Group 13 special forces unit of Defence Intelligence of Ukraine destroyed the guided-missile corvette Ivanovets, part of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, on the night of 31 January-1 February 2024.
  • On 4 August 2023, the Security Service of Ukraine conducted a special operation in Novorossiysk Bay, Russia. An uncrewed surface vessel (USV) damaged the heavy landing ship Olenegorskiy Gornyak, causing a "serious breach".
  • Ukrainian intelligence stated that due to Ukrainian attacks on the Russian Navy, the Russians are trying to establish a naval base in Ochamchire, a town in the Russian-occupied Georgian region of Abkhazia.
  • According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as of the beginning of 2024, Ukrainian forces had disabled approximately 33% of all combat ships in the Russian Black Sea Fleet since the start of the full-scale invasion.

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