Ukraine's navy chief says Russia is losing its Crimea hub in Black Sea

Moscow forced to move warships to base that lacks Sevastopol's extensive facilities

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The Russian navy’s Black Sea Fleet has been forced to move nearly all its combat-ready warships from Ukraine’s occupied Crimea peninsula to other locations and its main naval hub is becoming ineffectual because of attacks by Kyiv, Ukraine’s navy chief said.

Vice-Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa said Ukrainian missile and naval drone strikes have caused heavy damage to the Sevastopol base, a logistics hub for repairs, maintenance, training and ammunition storage among other important functions for Russia.

“They were established over many decades, possibly centuries. And clearly they are now losing this hub,” Vice-Adm Neizhpapa told Reuters, in a rare interview in the port city of Odesa, ahead of Ukraine Navy Day on July 7.

More than 28 months after Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv has dealt a series of stinging blows to Moscow in the Black Sea, although Ukrainian ground troops are on the back foot across a sprawling front.

Ukraine, which has no major warships at its disposal, has used uncrewed naval boats packed with explosives to target Russian vessels and pounded the fleet’s facilities and other military targets on Crimea with Storm Shadow and ATACMS missiles.

“Almost all the main combat-ready ships have been moved by the enemy from the main base of the Black Sea Fleet, and the ships are kept in Novorossiisk, and some of them are kept in the Sea of Azov,” he said.