As British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said on December 26 regarding the explosions on the large landing ship “Novocherkassk” in occupied Feodosia, “this latest destruction of Putin’s navy demonstrates that those who believe there’s a stalemate in the Ukraine war are wrong! They haven’t noticed that over the past 4 months 20% of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has been destroyed. Russia’s dominance in the Black Sea is now challenged and the new UK & Norway led Maritime Capability Coalition is helping to ensure Ukraine will win at sea”.
Let us note that the destruction of the “Novocherkassk” emphasizes the displacement of Russian large-capacity warships from the western part of the Black Sea, while it is precisely the large-capacity ships that the aggressor cannot navigate through Russian inland waterways in the conditions of Turkey’s blocking of the Black Sea straits. For example, three days ago, according to information from Konstantin Mashovets, one diesel-electric submarine “Alrosa”, east of Cape Meganom, a patrol ship “Pytlivy” – southeast of Cape Opuk, a small anti-submarine ship “Suzdalets” – northwest of the Kerch Strait, medium reconnaissance ship “Priazovye” southwest of Anapa, torpedo boat “Sokolskoye” – west of Cape Meganom and anti-sabotage boats “Kursant Kirovets” and “Suvorovets” in the Kerch Strait area
Let us recall that in total the aggressor controls 22 large landing ships and since March 2022, up to 14 such ships have been blocked in the Black Sea. The undisputedly destroyed one should be considered “Saratov” in Berdyansk in the spring of 2022, and in the summer of 2023 damage to the “Olenegorsky Miner” was reported. Moreover, after the damage to the Crimean Bridge, the aggressor’s landing ships were repeatedly used by him as a means of delivering military cargo to the occupied Crimea. It is obvious that now the occupiers have a simple alternative: stop such “cargo turnover” or continue to risk their remaining landing ships.
