How the Russian Navy continues to expose its ships to Ukrainian attacks

By David Ax

When Ukrainian forces fired two Neptune missiles at the Russian cruiser Moskva on April 13, the Ukrainians deprived the Russian Black Sea Fleet of its main air defenses.

The incident exposed the rest of the Black Sea Fleet – especially support ships that could not be defended – to Ukrainian attacks with missiles and drones.

But that did not stop the Russian fleet commanders from sending their most important auxiliary ships – including rescue ships and landing craft – to the most dangerous part of the western Black Sea around the strategic Ukrainian island of Fidonisi.

Whoever controls this island controls the sea corridors to Odessa, the largest port in Ukraine and the key to its future economic recovery. On the first day of Russia’s war against Ukraine on February 24, Russian forces led by Moskva bombed the island, captured its surviving Ukrainian defenders and set up their own garrison on the tiny 110-acre island south of Odessa.

The destruction of Moskva, along with many of its 500 sailors and 64 missiles, marks a turning point in the naval conflict alongside intense fighting on Ukrainian soil.

The Ukrainian navy had only one large warship at the start of the war, the frigate Hetman Sahaydachniy. The navy sank the frigate in Odessa in the first hours of the war, in order not to fall into the hands of the Russians.

Even without large ships, however, the Ukrainian navy has been successful in the field with Neptunes missiles and TB-2 drones, with much help from army anti-tank missile groups, ballistic missile arrays and fighter jets.

Moskva, despite its age and poor condition – entered service in 1983 and underwent a few major upgrades – was the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The Black Sea Fleet has three other air defense ships: the three Admiral Grigorovich frigates with 24 medium-range Buk surface-to-air missiles.

But one of the three ships was deployed in the Mediterranean Sea before the war and is stuck there. Turkey controls the Bosphorus Strait, the only passage to the Black Sea, and has not allowed any warships to pass since the Russian invasion.

Two frigates with 30-mile air defense systems can not control the airspace over the 250-mile-wide western Black Sea, even with the help of Crimean-based S-400s and Su-30 fighters.

The frigates are not even really active. Satellite images confirm that the Kremlin is holding the frigates near the port of Sevastopol. The British Ministry of Defense described this as a “retreat in Crimea”.

This explains how the Ukrainian Navy and the Ukrainian Air Force were able to sharply boost their air operations immediately after the sinking of Moskva. Navy TB-2 aircraft armed with 10-mile laser-guided missiles detonated three Russian air defense systems and a helicopter in Fidonisi and also hit four of the eight naval patrol boats from a fleet of Raptors and a fleet of Fleet .

Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 fighter jets took advantage of gaps in the island’s air defenses and bombed it during a daring raid last weekend.

All this time, auxiliary ships of the Black Sea Fleet based in Crimea continued to sail to and from the island. On May 9th, satellite images located one of the four Black Sea Fleet rescue vessels Project 22870 at the pier of Fidonisi Island. Landing craft were also spotted on the island. And on May 11, a large floating crane was visible at the pier.

Auxiliary forces have a lot to do. The satellite images showed that their tasks so far include cleaning the wreck of the landing craft that sank the TB-2, while removing or replacing damaged air defense systems.

It is dangerous to work on unarmed ships sailing without a close escort. Ukrainian drones, fighters and missiles are a constant threat. Having neutralized Moskva and all these Raptor patrol boats, among others, may just be a matter of time before the Ukrainians target Russian auxiliary vessels. “Russia’s efforts to strengthen its forces in Fidonisi offer Ukraine more opportunities to engage with Russian troops and destroy military equipment,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

Indeed, there are unconfirmed reports that this has already begun. According to Serihy Bratchuk, from the Odessa regional council, an artillery shell hit the Black Sea Fleet rescue ship Vsevolod Bobrov off the island on Thursday, causing serious damage to the ship.