Russia using warships to divert Ukrainian air defense during mass attacks – Navy spokesperson

This was stated by the spokesperson for the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Dmytro Pletenchuk, in a television broadcast, as reported by Ukrinform.

“There should always be a consideration that danger is present as we observe one cruise missile carrier at sea. Moreover, it does not take much time to deploy and go out to sea to launch missiles. We're talking about hours. However, as practice shows, when there is one or two submarines at sea, especially if only one of them is a carrier, they do not carry out tasks related to the use of these missiles. They perform tasks related to the protection of the base point,” Pletenchuk said.

According to him, even if they decide to launch, meaning not as part of a combined attack, but independently, practice has shown that these launches are not effective again.

“That is why the enemy basically does not use them alone anymore. Even if warships go out to sea in a number of several missile-carrying units, this still does not mean that there will necessarily be a strike. The low effectiveness of these weapons systems as of now has forced the enemy to use them more to divert the Ukrainian air defense during mass missile attacks. So, it can be said that the situation at the moment is stable,” the spokesperson added.

As reported, according to operational information from the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as of 6:00 on October 17, 2024, there is one enemy Kalibr carrier in the Black Sea with a total salvo of up to four missiles.