Ukraine’s Navy has stated earlier today that the last Russian naval patrol ship has left Crimea. The ships have most likely been sent to a different base due to Ukraine’s constant targeted campaign on military targets on the peninsula which has been under Russian occupation for the last decade.
Though it has no major warships at its disposal, Ukraine has used missiles and naval drones to inflict significant damage to the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which has long been headquartered in Sevastopol on the peninsula seized by Moscow in 2014.
Vice-Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa, Ukraine’s navy chief, told Reuters earlier this month that Russia had been forced to rebase nearly all its combat-ready warships from occupied Crimea.
“The last patrol ship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation is bolting from our Crimea just now. Remember this day,” Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said on Facebook.
Asked to clarify whether this was a permanent move, Pletenchuk told Reuters: “Most likely, this is a transition between bases”, adding that Moscow did not usually send ships to the open sea for no reason.
He said the vessel’s designation was Project 1135.
Russian authorities have not responded to requests for comment in the past about Ukrainian claims of advances in the Black Sea.
Kyiv has destroyed or damaged 27 Russian naval vessels, Neizhpapa said. In May, Ukrainian authorities said they had destroyed the last Russian warship armed with cruise missiles that was stationed on the peninsula.
Moscow’s setbacks in the Black Sea come at a time when Ukrainian ground troops are on the back foot across a sprawling front and in particular in the east.
Russian President Putin told top naval officers last month that the country’s fleet had been replenished over the last few years and that major modernization efforts were underway. These steps include ‘increasing the stability of the fleet’ plus efforts to strengthen the navy.
(With inputs from Reuters)
