Russian fleet’s Black Sea operations not paralyzed but greatly complicated – Ukraine Navy

The operations of the Russian naval fleet in the Black Sea have been greatly complicated, short of being paralyzed.

That’s according to the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Navy, Captain 3rd rank Dmytro Pletenchuk, who spoke on the air of the national telethon, Ukrinform reports.

"According to our calculations, we can say that in general, the Black Sea Fleet at the outset of the full-scale invasion consisted of nearly 80 vessels. Of them, 30-35 are large warships posing a real threat with their long striking range, as well as large landing ships, submarines, patrol boats, minesweepers – all armed with serious weapons. Now 25 different units have been destroyed, and 15 are currently under repair," Pletenchuk said.

Also, Coast Guard vessels are present in the region.

As Pletenchuk noted, the Russian fleet deployed in the Black Sea has access to other water areas, therefore replacements may arrive from the Caspian flotilla. Similarly, according to him, Russia could theoretically deploy missile boats through internal waterways from the Baltic region, but this would not make sense, he believes.

"Actually, the Black Sea Fleet has been in this state for quite a while: apart from Kalibr cruise missile carriers, they can’t use anything against Ukraine. But there were problems with those, too. They were cut off from Sevastopol, where their main logistical base is located... And the main thing is that the Kalibr missiles remained in Sevastopol, and this problem of loading them in Novorossiysk, as we can see, has not been solved yet. So they are forced to take a risk, check at Sevastopol, quickly load and then get out of there just as quickly. I can say that the Black Sea Fleet operations have been greatly complicated, if not paralyzed," Pletenchuk said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, in the early hours of February 1, Ukraine’s defense intelligence (Group 13 unit) executed a maritime drone attack on the Russian missile boat Ivanovets in temporarily occupied Crimea. As a result of a series of direct hits to the hull, the Russian ship suffered damage, rolled to the stern, and sank.