Russia's black sea fleet struggles amid escalating Ukrainian attacks

Captain Dmytro Pletenczuk, spokesman for the Ukrainian Naval Forces, highlighted the recent movements of Russians in the Black Sea. According to him, the "Russian Navy deployed three submarines armed with cruise missiles at the same time." Pletenchuk sarcastically referred to the number of sunken vessels of the Black Sea Fleet, stating on Facebook, "it is sometimes called a submarine graveyard, and that is true."

Captain Dmytro Pletenczuk reported that Russia withdrew the last patrol ship from Crimea in mid-July. Functional units have disappeared from the region, and most of them have been directed to Novorossiysk and the ports of the Sea of Azov. According to Ukrainians, only those in poor technical condition were left in Crimea. Among them were, among others, supply ships and landing ships, including the Ukrainian landing ship "Konstantin Olshansky," seized by the Russians in 2014.

Russians have also changed the location of ships being built or repaired at the Butoma shipyard in Kerch. Defence Romania notes that they are being towed and moved through inland waters to the Baltic Sea to complete work and conduct sea trials. Russians decided on such measures due to fears of further Ukrainian attacks.

Attacks carried out with the help of Magura V kamikaze drones, Storm Shadow missiles, RK-360 Neptune, or ATACMS missiles have severely affected Putin's army, damaging or sinking a significant number of ships. One of the more spectacular strikes was in September 2023, when Ukrainians attacked the landing ship "Minsk" and the submarine "Rostov-on-Don" stationed at the Sevastopol shipyard.

In March 2015, Russians formed the 4th Independent Submarine Brigade in Novorossiysk. Initially, it included a vessel named "Novorossiysk," and subsequently, other units of project 636.3 "Vashavyanka" joined, including the mentioned "Rostov-on-Don." According to Defense Romania, Russia has six vessels in the Black Sea. Three of them were reportedly directed closer to Crimea.

Designed specifically for the Russian Black Sea Fleet, project 636.3 submarines, also known as "Vashavyanka," are a modernized version of the Kilo-type submarines, 73 metres long and with about 3,000 metric tons of displacement. They are considered very quiet, making them difficult to detect. "Vashavyankas" are armed with torpedoes but can also carry Kalibr cruise missiles. Typically, there are four ready-to-launch missiles. Most likely, Captain Dmytro Pletenczuk was referring to these missiles.

As we have already reported, these can be, for example, the 3M14 cruise missiles designed to target land-based objectives with a range of up to 2,500 kilometres or the 3M54 anti-ship missiles with about 200 kilometres. The former are 6 metres long and have a warhead weighing 450 kilograms. Some sources suggest that the 3M14 may be capable of carrying nuclear warheads. On the other hand, the 3M54 (in the 3M54M1 version) is also 6 metres long and has a warhead weighing over 1,500 kilograms.