5/5/23
Russia has moved most of its Black Sea Fleet warships from its primary base in Crimea to safer waters in Russian territory, according to a senior Ukrainian military intelligence official.
Major General Vadym Skibitsky, deputy chief of Ukraine’s military intelligence, said during a Wednesday interview with the Kyiv TV channel that the Kremlin had decided to relocate the vessels out of fear of missile strikes.
Newsweek has not been able to independently verify that Black Sea Fleet ships have changed locations.
The official primary headquarters for the Black Sea Fleet is located in Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea and the site of multiple drone strikes in recent weeks. Though Ukraine has not accepted responsibility for the drone attacks, Mikhail Razvozhayev—the Kremlin-installed governor of Sevastopol—has said Kyiv is behind the strikes, which reportedly caused a large fire at an oil depot in the area on Saturday.
According to a translation of Skibitsky’s comments by the online outlet Ukrainska Pravda, Russia’s naval high command has re-assigned most of its Black Sea Fleet vessels from Sevastopol back to the Russian city of Novorossiysk.
“We see that the Russians are afraid. That base in Sevastopol and other military facilities are now heavily guarded; the occupiers are equipping positions to protect against attacks on this infrastructure,” Skibitsky said, according to Ukrainska Pravda.
Skibitsky specified that the warships were moved approximately 220 miles away from Sevastopol to Novorossiysk. The Kyiv Post described Novorossiysk, which is located on the Black Sea’s east coast in Russia’s southern Kuban region, as being “well out of range of probable anti-ship missile launch sites in Ukraine-controlled territory.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has maintained that Crimea, which was invaded and annexed by Russia in 2014, belongs to Ukraine. He has also stated multiple times that Crimea being recognized once again as part of his nation is one of his conditions for a ceasefire in the war Russian President Vladimir Putin started in February 2022.
Meanwhile, Russian officials have remained firm that Crimea must remain part of Russia in any future peace talks. In addition, the Kremlin has said that four additional territories it illegitimately annexed in September 2022 must also be recognized as Russian.
Will Reno, the chairman of the political science department at Northwestern University, told Newsweek that he’s not surprised that Russia would consider moving its expensive ships from Sevastopol.
“It is possible that Russian planners anticipate that ships could come into range of missiles such as HIMARS in the event a Ukrainian offensive enabled repositioning closer to Russia’s naval stations,” Reno said.
As proof of Ukraine’s capabilities in attacking Russia’s navy, Reno cited examples like the Ukraine assault that resulted in the April 2022 sinking of the Moskva, the Black Sea Fleet’s flagship.
“Russia’s Black Sea fleet has been reduced to a littoral force, at least in some respects. This development has lessons for U.S. planners,” Reno said. “There is a suspicion that current offensive weapons put naval power at a disadvantage, particularly large expensive vessels that relatively inexpensive offensive weapons can damage or destroy. Thinking ahead to the western Pacific, are large investments in capital ships the wisest use of resources?”
“We see that the Russians are afraid. That base in Sevastopol and other military facilities are now heavily guarded; the occupiers are equipping positions to protect against attacks on this infrastructure,”
That’s great! These assets are missing in the front areas.
“There is a suspicion that current offensive weapons put naval power at a disadvantage, particularly large expensive vessels that relatively inexpensive offensive weapons can damage or destroy. Thinking ahead to the western Pacific, are large investments in capital ships the wisest use of resources?”
Not if the navy in question is run by ruskie admirals.
I guess we are seeing the after effects of the drone strikes on the oil tanks earlier. They have just a short time with limited fuel to limp back to Moskali territory. This is another reason Ukraine may have to reunify its former border with Georgia to keep all of the Avoz safe in Ukrainian hands and keep the habitual invaders out of the formerly peaceful Black Sea.
“Meanwhile, Russian officials have remained firm that Crimea must remain part of Russia in any future peace talks. In addition, the Kremlin has said that four additional territories it illegitimately annexed in September 2022 must also be recognized as Russian.”
A defeated army does what it is told. russia will be confined to their own shithole, with a 100km demilitarized zone around it, on russian soil.
They should not be allowed to have a military at all. They are far too irresponsible!
They can run and attempt to hide but they WILL be found.
This is the beginning of the end. Russia wanted to project power through Sevastopol to the Middle East and Africa. I believe this was their main objective in taking Crimea and that the 2021 invasion was to control water flow there. Of course, it’s a nice vacation spot too.
Now they have two choices, 1) do it from Novorossiysk which doesn’t have the same deep waters and it already crowded with commercial vessels or 2) lose their fleet.
They recognize they have lost any hope of being able to safeguard Sevastopol. And now they can go back home saying they tried but the were up against the whole Western world (of course the reality is that is was only Ukraine).
They could’ve kept Sevastopol and the Crimea for an undefined time period, since no one would have dared to take them away from them. Now, the table has turned.