The Ukrainian army assured on Monday that it had pushed the Russian fleet back a hundred kilometers from the Ukrainian coast in the Black Sea. Moscow ships have been organizing a naval blockade there for weeks.
“As a result of our actions aimed at defeating the enemy naval forces, the group of ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was pushed back from the Ukrainian shores at a distance of more than one hundred kilometers,” the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said. Defense on Telegram. Unverifiable information from an independent source.
According to the ministry, Russian troops were consequently forced to deploy coastal defense systems in Crimea and the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, which they occupy. They also sent reinforcements to Serpents’ Island, a small territory in the Black Sea that they conquered on the first day of the invasion.
“Grey area”
“We have deprived the Russian fleet of full control of the northwestern part of the Black Sea, which has become a ‘grey zone’,” the ministry said, adding that Moscow was currently trying to regain the upper hand there.
According to kyiv, “the threat of Russian missile strikes from the sea remains” however. Russian ships also continue to “block civil navigation” in this area, according to the same source.
The naval blockade of Ukrainian ports raises fears of a global food crisis, with grain exports from Ukraine blocked and world prices soaring.
If Russia has an obvious naval superiority, the Ukrainian forces have claimed to have managed to sink several Russian ships since the beginning of the war, including in April the cruiser “Moskva”, the flagship of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. Moscow claims for its part that this boat sank following an incident on board.
