(Dan Tri) – Britain believes that Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is seriously affected after Ukraine repeatedly attacked this unit’s ships.
Russian ships moving in Crimea (Illustration photo: Reuters).
Commenting after Ukraine’s latest attack on the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said Russia’s Black Sea Fleet was `functionally no longer operational`.
Mr. Shapps shared a post on social network X of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claiming responsibility for the missile attack on Sevastopol on March 23.
According to independent Russian news site Astra, 18 missiles appeared to have been rained down on Sevastopol and Russian air defenses intercepted 11 of them.
Open source intelligence accounts claim that British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles were used in the attack while Russian bloggers say Neptune missiles, ADM-160 decoy missiles and drones
Ukrainian military intelligence said the Russian ship Yamal was seriously damaged and `a hole in the upper deck caused the ship to list to the starboard side`.
In addition, Ukraine said that its raid on March 23 also damaged the Russian ship Azov.
In an updated statement on March 25, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said it attacked one of Russia’s ship repair factories in Sevastopol, where the Yamal was docked.
Ukrainian media quoted Dmytro Pletenchuk, spokesman for the Ukrainian navy, as saying that in addition to the two ships mentioned above, Ukraine also appeared to have attacked the Ivan Khurs reconnaissance ship.
Mr Shapps said Ukraine’s attacks `are causing major losses to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, which is no longer functionally operational`.
Ukraine has repeatedly vowed to reclaim the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014. This is where the Russian Black Sea Fleet is based.
Despite having only a small navy, Ukraine has used missiles and aircraft and drones against Russian ships, compromising its naval capabilities.
Last month, Ukrainian Forces announced they had disabled more than 30% of the warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet since the start of the conflict.
The US Hudson Research Institute warns that the above number could increase by 50% if Ukraine keeps up the pace of attack and Russia does not have effective countermeasures.
Russia has not commented on these numbers.
In its assessment on March 24, the Institute for the Study of War (USA) said that regardless of the damage caused, Ukraine’s latest attack on ships of the Black Sea Fleet will likely continue.
In addition, the British government said that aid from NATO allies will help Ukraine `transform its naval force`, bringing it on par with the alliance and enhancing security in the Black Sea.
