Russia's Black Sea Fleet Loses Another Warship: Reports

Russia may have lost another warship in its Black Sea naval fleet, according to new reports, after Ukraine said it had taken out a Russian minesweeper over the weekend.

Several open-source intelligence accounts reported that Moscow may have also lost the corvette Cyclone, or Tsiklon, around Crimea.

Kyiv has not commented on the reports. Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian navy and Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

On Sunday, Ukraine's navy said Kyiv had destroyed the Russian minesweeper Kovrovets overnight, but did not offer further details.

"Another bad day for the [R]ussian Black Sea Fleet," Ukraine's Defense Ministry said in a post to social media. Ukrainian forces did not specify where the Russian vessel was located.

Russia had used occupied Crimea as its primary Black Sea base, but consistent Ukrainian strikes—and substantial Russian naval losses—forced Moscow to relocate many of its assets further east in the Black Sea, including to its Novorossiysk base in Russia's Krasnodar region.

Western intelligence has evaluated that Russia has restricted its activity in the western Black Sea, where Ukraine can more easily threaten its fleet.

Ukraine's Navy said back in March that it had disabled or destroyed around a third of the Black Sea Fleet.

"The navy has suffered significantly in the Black Sea," U.S. European Command chief, General Christopher Cavoli, said in April.

Ukraine has targeted a number of Russian vessels since the start of the year, including landing ships and a missile-armed corvette.

Moscow has attempted to fortify its Black Sea bases against Ukrainian drones and missile attacks, using decoys to try to confuse Kyiv's operators, the British government previously assessed. Moscow has also announced it will beef up the protection around its Black Sea fleet with large-caliber machine guns to shoot down incoming naval drones before they strike Russian vessels.

Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian navy, said in late March that Russia had just one combat vessel left in Crimea, which Moscow has controlled for a decade since it annexed the territory from Kyiv. The Tsiklon remained stationed around the peninsula, Pletenchuk said.

The Tsiklon is a Karakurt-class corvette that joined the Black Sea Fleet in July 2023, according to Russian state media. It can fire Kalibr cruise missiles, and was built in the Crimean city of Kerch, the state-run Tass news agency reported.

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.