Ukraine’s navy said on Monday (Jul 15) that Moscow’s last naval patrol ship had left Russian-occupied Crimea, “most likely” to rebase elsewhere after Kyiv’s concerted military campaign to attack the Black Sea peninsula as it battles Russian invasion.
Though it has no major warships at its disposal, Ukraine has used missiles and naval drones to inflict significant damage to the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which has long been headquartered in Sevastopol on the peninsula seized by Moscow in 2014.
Vice-Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa, Ukraine’s navy chief, told Reuters earlier this month that Russia had been forced to rebase nearly all its combat-ready warships from occupied Crimea.
“The last patrol ship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation is bolting from our Crimea just now. Remember this day,” Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said on Facebook.
Asked to clarify whether this was a permanent move, Pletenchuk told Reuters: “Most likely, this is a transition between bases”, adding that Moscow did not usually send ships to the open sea for no reason.
He said the vessel’s designation was Project 1135.
