Ukraine Disables Five Major Russian Landing Crafts In The Black Sea

The Russian Black Sea Fleet is trapped.

Five major Russian landing crafts in the Black Sea are out of service now. Also, the aggressor country does not have enough forces to replenish the losses in large combat units of the Black Sea Fleet, according to Dmitry Pletenchuk, a representative of the Ukrainian Navy, FREEDOM reports.

“They [the Russians - Ed.] are deprived of ways to replenish the Black Sea Fleet. They did their best to gather as much as possible during the so-called exercises before the full-scale invasion. Recall, they deployed only 6-7 major landing crafts in addition to everything they had there. But we know the result: 5 are out of service now. The number will grow,” Pletenchuk said.

He clarified that the Bosphorus Canal is the easiest way to transfer navy vessels there since it is closer to Russia.

“Yes, they have four fleets. There is a good shipping channel in the Caspian Sea, they have already pulled over some units. But do not forget that the Caspian Sea is also a shared sea. There is also not a simple geopolitical alignment - for example, Azerbaijan and Iran,” explained the representative of the Navy.

“Potentially, Russia has the ability to transfer some types of vessels through the internal waters of the mainland,” Pletenchuk added. But this limits vessels’ size.

"It seems that the Black Sea Fleet is locked up," Pletenchuk stressed.

Attacks on the Russian fleet

Russia felt free in the Black Sea only in the first months of the full-scale invasion. However, the attacks on the Moskva cruiser and the liberation of Snake Island forced the aggressor to move its fleet closer to Crimea and hide it from new attacks by the Ukrainian Navy.

Regular attacks by marine drones on Russian vessels forced the invaders to transfer their submarines to Novorossiysk.

But even such security strengthening measures do not save Russia. For example, just this month, in August, the Olenegorsky Gornyak landing craft was damaged in the seaport of Novorossiysk as well as the sanctioned tanker Sig off the coast of Crimea.

Despite this, the Russian Federation still engages the Black Sea Fleet in strikes against mainland Ukraine.