Putin May Actually Lose His Control of the Black Sea
(RightWing.org) – Against all odds, Ukraine has managed somehow to maintain control of the bulk of its territories in the wake of Russia’s February invasion. As Right Wing recently reported, everyone from Western allies to the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman thought Kyiv would fall within hours. Instead, with eight months of battle in the rearview mirror, it appears that Russian President Putin might actually lose control of the Black Sea.
#Ukraine Disaster: #Russia Is Losing Its Hold On The #BlackSea (The latest by @drfarls) https://t.co/UkACLKzlqB
— 19FortyFive (@19_forty_five) November 2, 2022
Spanning the southern coast of Ukraine and a portion of Russia’s southwestern flank, the Russian Navy has successfully used the Black Sea as a launching pad for missile strikes and other aerial assaults on Ukraine.
Ukraine Unleashes Mass Kamikaze Drone Boat Attack On Russia’s Black Sea Fleet Headquartershttps://t.co/cf4Ak42bkE
— Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) October 29, 2022
On October 29, Ukrainian armed forces launched a massive, multi-pronged attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters at Sevastopol, Crimea. Military and geopolitics website The War Zone reported that Ukraine launched kamikaze-style aerial drones and sea-based unmanned surface vessels that explode upon reaching their intended targets.
Ukraine released a video from today’s attack on Sevastopol. It shows a naval drone targeting the Black Sea Fleet’s Admiral Makarov Project 11356 frigate, which Russian sources said was damaged (it replaced the Moskva as the Black Sea Fleet’s flagship). https://t.co/zdAeWUvDrb pic.twitter.com/TNnIu4OIap
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) October 29, 2022
Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the prestigious Foreign Policy Research Institute, posted dramatic footage obtained from Ukrainian officials of a naval drone targeting the Admiral Makarov, an Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate. The Russian Navy designated the vessel as its Black Sea flagship in May after the sinking of the Moskva, a Project 1164 guided missile cruiser.
A senior lecturer at The Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, Dr. Robert Farley, recently published an in-depth analysis of Ukraine’s attack on Russian naval forces at Sevastopol on the 1945 website. He wrote that the episode highlighted how far Russia’s dominance in the Black Sea has eroded since the war began. He also noted that Russia’s “centuries-long grip on the Black Sea may well be slipping away.”
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