Lieutenant General Nikolai Oleshchuk announced the destruction of the Russian ship Novocherkassk during an attack in Crimea, which is under occupation.
Later, the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces clarified that at about 02:30 on December 26, tactical aviation of the Air Force attacked the large landing ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet "Novocherkassk" with cruise missiles in the area of occupied Feodosia and destroyed it. How many and what kind of missiles were used is not specified.
On November 17, the speaker of the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Dmitry Pletenchuk, said that the capabilities of Russian forces in the Black Sea have recently “reduced significantly” thanks to the work of the Ukrainian Defense Forces. The Russian military is forced to “stay as far away as possible and are significantly limited in their actions.” According to him, the Russian fleet suffered “serious losses” - in particular, 15 ships were destroyed and 12 were damaged.
Two Russian warships left the waters of the seaport of occupied Feodosia on the afternoon of December 26, reports a correspondent for the Radio Liberty Crimea.Realities project.
This happened several hours after the Ukrainian military attacked the port and the Novocherkassk landing ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which was located there.
The war on the Black Sea: how Ukraine fought the Russian fleet and what will happen next
The command of the Russian Black Sea Fleet entered into a full-scale war with Ukraine, planning landings, breakthroughs to the Odessa roadstead, coastal operations and supplying the flanks of the advancing troops. To do this, 4 BDKs (large landing ships - Ed.), a battalion of marines from the Caspian and Baltic were transferred from the Baltic and Northern fleets, notes military observer Kirill Danilchenko in a material for BBC Ukraine.
But Ukraine is a country with aviation, OTRK, heavy rocket systems and the ability to lay mines, including remote ones.
And it won’t be an easy walk against the Ukrainians.
Although the Russians had the courage of the first days with artillery shelling of Odessa, radar patrols off the Ukrainian coast, launches of Caliber missiles, a quick capture of the port of Berdyansk and a heavy cruise missile strike on the operational center of the Ukrainian Navy in Ochakov, after which divers retrieved the dead Ukrainian military.
However, this courage soon ended.
And this is despite the fact that Ukraine practically does not have its own fleet: one of the Island boats, the Slavyansk, was hit by the Russians with an X-31 anti-ship missile, the minesweeper Genichesk was also killed, and the flagship Hetman Sahaidachny was laid down by the Ukrainians themselves. Kiel in Nikolaev.
Russian fleet losses
What has the Russian Black Sea Fleet already had to endure?
Strikes by unmanned drones at sea. For example, the defeat of the large landing ship "Olenegorsky Miner" on the roadstead of Novorossiysk with heavy damage (a ship from the Northern Fleet).
Strikes by “Points” on other airborne landing forces in Berdyansk: “Saratov” detonated from a fire so that its ramp (a means of unloading landing equipment - Ed.) was torn out, and the ship sank to the bottom, and “Caesar Kunikov” was damaged so much that it took a year to repair .
First, the defeat of the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet by drones in the center of Sevastopol, and then the “arrival” of cruise missiles on it.
Destruction of the largest oil storage facility at the main base.
Mine explosions on the open sea and in the roadstead of Sevastopol.
The tug Vasily Bekh, along with the Tor air defense system on board, was damaged by Harpoon missiles.
Finally, the most famous episode is the covering of the flagship cruiser Moskva by a pair of Ukrainian anti-ship missiles "Neptune" with a pair of salvos, resulting in a severe fire and flooding. The “aircraft carrier killer” and “threat to NATO” died from classic subsonic missiles.
There was also a hit on the submarine, the carrier of the Caliber, and, at the same time, a hit on the Minsk airborne landing craft, which had its superstructure completely cut off - this is a repair that will take several years, if it is possible at all.
On the night of December 26, in the city of Feodosia, the Ukrainian army launched a missile strike and destroyed the large landing ship Novocherkassk.
The missile ships also took a hit - right next to the quay wall of the Kerch Zaliv plant, the small missile ship Askold was taken out, and before that another missile carrier, Veliky Ustyug, was disabled.
At the Saki airfield, the probable defeat of six Su-24 bombers and four Su-30 fighters by the Neptune, converted for ground attacks.
The Ukrainians also shot down aircraft in the skies over the Black Sea: they sank a Su-24, which was laying mines far from the shore, and shot down a Su-30SM of Russian naval aviation near Nikolaev, whose pilot was captured. And there was also a Su-34, which was shot down near Odessa.
(On December 22, the Ukrainian Air Force announced that in one day they shot down three Su-34 fighter-bombers at once - Ed.) The boats were also damaged. "Raptors" and "Chamois" were sunk as a floating battery for the "Thor" and as a mobile firing point against unmanned drones.
It ended with the fact that the Russian Black Sea Fleet, fearing for its own safety, began trawling the tracks near Sevastopol and decided to enter the Novorossiysk base.
“Unsinkable aircraft carrier” Crimea
That is, after attacks on headquarters, repeated attacks by drones in the roadstead, attacks on dry docks and berths, Russian sailors realized that they could end physically.
And Ukrainian naval drones have become underwater, and then they will be able to lay mines. It turned out that it is difficult to fight even against subsonic anti-ship and air-launched cruise missiles.
The war on the Black Sea once again showed that in a theater of military operations without skerries (small sea cliffs - Ed.), islands and bays, it is quite easy to pin down a fleet.
During the First World War, the not-so-strong Turkish fleet and the heavy German cruiser SMS Goeben blocked Russian grain trade and attacked Sevastopol and Nikolaev. And for several years the Russian squadron, which was many times superior to these Black Sea forces of the Turks and Germans, caught the void in the sea.
During World War II, the Germans deployed barges, torpedo boats and several squadrons of dive bombers and torpedo bombers to the Black Sea and Azov regions. And this was enough for the Soviet Black Sea Fleet to lose 32 boats, a cruiser, and 11 destroyers.
The Germans drove the then flagship battleship Sevastopol to Novorossiysk and Poti, where it essentially turned into just a floating anti-aircraft battery - out of 1,200 sailors on its crew, another 560 were sent to the infantry as unnecessary on board.
Blockade
The Russian fleet remains a serious threat in the Black Sea and is capable of large salvoes of Kalibr and other missiles
At the same time, the current Black Sea Fleet, even despite all the losses and partial transfer to Novorossiysk (where it is more difficult for the Russians to load “Caliber” on their missile carriers), still remains a serious adversary.
And the point here is not even that they have enough carriers of cruise missiles, have three submarines and the ability to drive small missile ships through canals and along rivers - they still have a serious salvo of high-precision weapons.
And even after the Russians may not have anyone on combat duty in the Black Sea for several weeks, Russia can quickly deploy its group.
It seems that the issue of Russian landings was resolved by the work of “Harpunov” and “Neptune”. But the main problem for Ukraine at sea was the blockade.
In 2021, the port of Chernomorsk alone received a thousand ships. All of Greater Odessa (Odessa, Chernomorsk, Yuzhny) received several thousand dry cargo ships and tankers. And now, within the framework of the temporary corridor, Ukraine is celebrating the passage of only 200.
As a result of hostilities, river logistics across the Dnieper became impossible for a generation—millions of dollars in investments and jobs for thousands of people were lost.
A 30% drop in grain exports and a 45% drop in metal exports is noticeable, it’s billions of dollars.
Insurance risks and “penalties” from ship owners to customers make maritime logistics to Ukrainian ports much more expensive, despite the fact that the temporary corridor has slightly extinguished the fire in prices per ton of cargo from 60 to 40 dollars.
In the end, a purely military threat remains - the laying of mines, the arrival of missiles, the activity of Russian naval aviation, anti-landing and anti-sabotage measures. This is what Ukraine needs to spend energy on.
That is why Türkiye, Bulgaria and Romania will sign a memorandum on mine clearance. And that is why in the future ships will be transferred to Ukraine - minesweepers, patrol boats and, possibly, corvettes.
It is necessary to expand the temporary corridor, “transshipment” through Izmail and other river ports, to make it impossible to inspect merchant ships on the high seas using helicopters from Russian ships.
Ukraine, which is critically dependent on the sale of raw materials, imports of technology and mechanical engineering, must control its sea gates.
This is still a long way off, and the Russians pose a serious threat to shipping in the region. But the evacuation from Sevastopol and the refusal to conduct active patrols at sea are the first signs that Moscow is having problems in the Black Sea.
