Russian fleet in crisis: Fear cripples Crimea ship repairs
The spokesperson for the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Dmytro Pletenczuk, reported that the Russians have completely abandoned repairs of their warships at bases in occupied Crimea. They are afraid to send their units there, which could at any moment become targets of, for example, Ukrainian surface drones.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet has suffered significant losses during the ongoing war. The Ukrainians have managed to inflict such painful blows that the authorities in Moscow even decided to change the main base from Sevastopol to Novorossiysk. However, this did not solve all of Russia's problems.
The Russians cannot repair their ships in Crimea
As Dmytro Pletenczuk emphasized, the bases in Crimea have played a significant role over the years. They allowed for repairs and upgrades of Russian ships, among other things. Now, such activities are not being conducted because the Russians are afraid to send their ships on a "dangerous journey."
"The main Russian facilities are still in Crimea. However, we have shown that in practice, using repair bases for their Black Sea Fleet is no longer possible. To repair their ships, they first have to bring them there, and now no one will do that. Although there are repair facilities in Novorossiysk, they cannot compare with those that remain in occupied Crimea," stated Dmytro Pletenczuk.
The Ukrainian added that currently, only one Russian submarine is responsible for protecting Russian bases in the Black Sea, primarily the one in Sevastopol. Aviation conducts the rest of the primary patrol and defense activities.
Significant losses of the Black Sea Fleet
Using Sea Baby drones, Ukrainians have carried out raids on the Crimean Bridge and have also eliminated several Russian surface units, including project 22160 ships. During an air attack on a shipyard in Sevastopol, they disabled a Russian Kilo-class project 877 submarine (Rostov-on-Don) and a project 775 landing ship (Ropucha), taking them out of further operations. Ukrainians then used Storm Shadow cruise missiles, which allow them to attack targets as far as 310 miles away.
However, the most painful loss for the Russians associated with the Black Sea Fleet is considered to be the hitting and sinking of the cruiser Moskva, which was referred to as the pride and flagship of the Russian navy. Ukrainians struck this unit using Rk-360 Neptune missiles equipped with a 330-pound warhead.
