Russia's Black Sea Fleet has 1 'loser' missile ship left in Crimea that has not launched a single missile, Ukrainian captain says
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Alia Shoaib
Mar 31, 2024, 22:13 IST
Russia's Black Sea Fleet warships take part in the Navy Day celebrations in the port city of Novorossiysk on July 30, 2023.STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images
A Ukrainian navy captain claimed Russia has only one missile ship left in the Black Sea.
He said that most of the Black Sea Fleet had relocated after a series of Ukrainian strikes.
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A Ukrainian commander has said that Russia only has one "loser" missile ship left in the Black Sea after a series of successful attacks.
"Most of the combat units, if you take the carriers of cruise missiles, have actually all been relocated, except for one loser who has not yet launched a single missile," Captain Dmytro Pletenchuk told Ukrainian TV.
He said that the lone ship remaining in Crimea is Russia's Cyclone warship, a Karakurt-class corvette.
Pletenchuk noted that the Black Sea Fleet was once considered Russia's main force in Crimea but had almost entirely been chased away and relocated.
Ukraine has been successfully using missiles and drones to strike ships at Sevastopol, Russia's major Black Sea port in Crimea.
The UK's defense minister said on March 25, after the latest Ukrainian attack, that the Black Sea Fleet was "functionally inactive."
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In a further intelligence update on March 31, the UK defense ministry said that four Russian barges had been identified in recent imagery as being positioned at the entrance to the Black Sea Fleet facility at Novorossiysk.
The department noted this was an effort to boost the defenses of the port against attacks from Ukrainian Uncrewed Surface Vessels (USVs), which are remotely operated vessels that are packed with explosives and used to strike Russian ships.
The UK department said that some of the Black Sea's most valuable assets had taken refuge Novorossiysk port in the eastern Black Sea after the regular attacks on their traditional homeport of Sevastopol.
Russia's Adm. Viktor Sokolov, the former Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, was reported to have been fired after a string of successful Ukrainian attacks.
The UK defense department noted that his successor, Vice Adm. Sergei Pinchuk, has likely taken preventive measures to improve the survival chances of Russian vessels.
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