Russia's Black Sea Fleet Facing Challenges After Crimea Attacks: UK

Russia's Black Sea Fleet is facing a number of challenges after strikes by Ukraine on annexed Crimea forced President Vladimir Putin's prized vessels to reposition from the port of Sevastopol, the British Defense Ministry has said.

Strikes in Crimea, Russia's central logistics hub for its forces in southern Ukraine, have become routine in recent months amid Kyiv's counteroffensive to reclaim territory occupied by Russian forces.

Attacks have struck military targets, including the Black Sea Fleet headquarters, as part of efforts to weaken Moscow's defenses and disrupt Russia from transporting equipment, weapons, and troops from mainland Russia into the peninsula. Newsweek has contacted Russia's Defense Ministry for comment via email on Saturday.

Putin's Black Sea Fleet has been targeted in a number of these strikes. Satellite images dated October 1 and 2 showed that it was repositioning from Sevastopol to Novorossiysk in Krasnodar Krai in southern Russia and the Russian naval port in Feodosia on the annexed peninsula.

Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the fleet has seen 17 vessels hit, including its sunk Moskva flagship and the new Askold corvette that hadn't yet entered service, Newsweek previously reported.

The U.K. Ministry of Defense said Saturday that the Black Sea Fleet's (BSF) ability to use its Novorossiysk base to reload vessels with cruise missiles is likely to become a significant factor in the fleet's operational effectiveness.

"Traditionally, BSF has reloaded cruise missiles at Sevastopol in Crimea. With that facility increasingly held at risk by Ukrainian long-range strikes, Russia will highly likely see Novorossiysk as the best alternative site," defense officials said.

"However, relocating and reloading the missiles would require new delivery, storage, handling and loading processes," they added.

The British Defense Ministry noted that on November 13, the Ukrainian military said that Russian Black Sea Fleet is dealing with a number of "logistical problems" at Novorossiysk that are preventing Moscow from launching regular Kalibr cruise-missile strikes. Newsweek has not as yet been able to verify these claims.

"Russia will likely seek to expedite overcoming such issues in time for maritime cruise missiles to be included in any winter campaign of strikes against Ukraine," the defense officials added.

Mikhail Zvinchuk, a former Russian Defense Ministry employee, and the man reportedly behind the Telegram channel Rybar, commented this week on Kyiv's claims that, when the Black Sea Fleet was repositioned to Novorossiysk, "the missiles still remained in Sevastopol."

"In principle, if [the Black Sea Fleet's] reserves were running out, then new missiles would be delivered to the bases where these cruise-missile carriers came to replenish their ammunition," Zvinchuk said.

"And, this time, the logistics shoulder has narrowed; it has decreased, because you still need to transport it to Novorossiysk, and not across the bridge with all the restrictions to Crimea," Zvinchuk added.

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