Russian Black Sea Fleet Flees Reserve Base Amid ATACMS Threat: Report

Russia's Black Sea Fleet is reported to have evacuated from a key naval base in the country's port of Novorossiysk, days after Ukrainian drones targeted the city, and as Kyiv appears to be closing in on receiving permission from the U.S. and the U.K. to strike territory deep inside Russia with long-range missiles.

Russia had been forced to relocate many of its warships away from Crimea to its Novorossiysk base in Russia's Krasnodar region as a result of ongoing Ukrainian attacks targeting its vessels, as Kyiv seeks reverse to Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea. The port city is a key hub for Russia's military logistics.

The development was flagged by H.I. Sutton, a maritime security researcher and open-source analyst, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"Likely response to #Ukrainian air threats, possibly news that Storm Shadow may be used on Russian territory. #Russian Navy vessels appear to have completed evacuated Novorossiysk today," said Sutton, sharing satellite imagery of the region, dated September 14, at 11:37 a.m. local time.

Reports that Ukraine could soon be permitted to use Western-supplied weapons to strike Russian territory emerged last week.

Kyiv has long urged its Western allies to allow it to strike targets deep within Russia using weaponry such as the Washington-supplied ATACMS, ground-launched ballistic missiles, and the British Storm Shadow air-launched land-attack cruise missiles.

Such requests have so far been denied over fears of escalating the conflict that Russian President Vladimir Putin began in February 2022.

It isn't clear where the vessels have relocated to. Newsweek has contacted Russia's defense ministry for comment via email.

Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) analyst MT Anderson said it appears the Black Sea Fleet (BSF) vessels "may have dispersed further south down the coast past Gelendzhik."

"While it appears that the majority of the BSF left Novorossiysk, there are a few, especially cowardly vessels, that hid amongst the commercial vessels," he said, noting that this includes two Bora-class ships, one Ropucha-class ship, and one Krivak-class vessel.

"High [resolution] imagery from Airbus confirms the spots," he wrote on X on Sunday.

In April, Ukraine's navy reported that a third of Russia's Black Sea Fleet has so far been disabled. In June, Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR), said "the hunt must not stop."

Ukraine's naval drones targeted Novorossiysk on September 5. The Russian ministry of defense said at the time that its military had destroyed two of the sea drones "in the northeastern part of the Black Sea."

Russian Telegram channels also reported shots and explosions in Novorossiysk, sharing video footage of the reported attack.

"Naval surface drones of the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked Novorossiysk," the ASTRA Telegram channel, a project run by independent Russian journalists, said.

Novorossiysk was also targeted by naval drones was in July. The Russian defense ministry said two naval drones heading toward the city were destroyed in the Black Sea.

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