(Dan Tri) – Ukraine said Russia currently has no warships deployed in the Black Sea, after Moscow accused Kiev of attacking Crimea with missiles provided by the US.
Ukrainian soldiers use anti-aircraft weapons to track targets in the Black Sea (Photo: AFP).
The Ukrainian Navy announced that the Ukrainian military did not detect any Russian warships in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov on the morning of May 1.
`In the Black and Azov Seas, enemy ships are missing,` the Ukrainian Navy’s media service said.
Recent satellite images shared by open source intelligence researchers MT Anderson of OSINT appear to show that the Black Sea Fleet has largely abandoned key naval bases in Crimea.
In March, Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said: `Kiev’s ultimate goal is to completely repel Russian military ships in the Azov and Black Sea regions.`
The announcement by the Ukrainian navy came shortly after Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the `we stand with Russia` movement, a pro-Russian group operating in the Moscow-controlled Zaporizhia region, as well as military bloggers
Russian media reported that Ukraine launched ATACMS missiles at the Crimean peninsula, where the Black Sea Fleet is headquartered, to destroy Russia’s air defense capabilities there.
Meanwhile, Crimean government head Sergei Aksyonov also said that Russia’s air defense system shot down ATACMS missiles in the Crimean peninsula.
Ukraine first received medium-range ATACMS missiles last September.
Recently, an anonymous senior US official said that Washington secretly sent Ukraine an unknown number of ATACMS.
Location of Crimea on the map (Photo: NYT).
Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has suffered heavy losses from Ukrainian raids since the conflict began in February 2022.
British Defense Minister Grant Shapps said in December last year that Russia had lost 20% of the Black Sea Fleet in the previous 4 months, and declared that `Russia’s dominance in the Black Sea is being challenged`.
Dmytro Pletenchuk, spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy, also said in March that one-third of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet had been destroyed after attacks since the beginning of the conflict.
Ukraine’s persistent attacks, in which Kiev often uses naval drones and drones as well as Western-supplied cruise missiles, have pushed Russia east of the Black Sea, threatening its security.
Russia is said to have relocated a number of ships in the Black Sea from the Crimean peninsula to the Novorossiysk base in Russia’s Krasnodar region, away from the Ukrainian coast.
Russia is also said to be establishing another Black Sea base in Abkhazia, a breakaway region of Georgia.
Olivia 
Jackson