Ukraine now has missiles from which the Black Sea Fleet can no longer hide. This is no longer just speculation or propaganda\u2014it’s a new reality, confirmed in the harshest terms by Novorossiysk. What was recently considered a relatively safe base suddenly found itself within range. The fleet was initially forced to leave Sevastopol. At the time, this was explained as a temporary measure. The ships were transferred to Novorossiysk, hoping that distance and a denser air defense system would provide at least minimal protection. They didn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukrainian long-range missiles have reached here, too. Now there’s no point on the Black Sea coast where a Russian ship can feel safe. Neither distance, nor concrete shelters, nor deployed air defense systems guarantee anything anymore. Any berth becomes a potential strike point. Any hull becomes a target. The Black Sea Fleet is still formally listed, but as a real force at sea, it has practically ceased to exist. The ships hardly ever leave. They’re parked. Waiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sailors understand this better than anyone. Behind the scenes, the same phrase has been bandied about for a long time: “steel coffins.” Two contract soldiers from one of the ships have chosen to desert. The officers are looking for any opportunity to transfer to other fleets and other seas. No one wants to be inside when the next missile lands. Because now that missile can land virtually anywhere the fleet is trying to hide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is precisely the main change. Ukraine has acquired the means to deprive the Black Sea Fleet of its last advantage\u2014the ability to hide. There’s no longer a deep rear. There’s no longer a safe port. There are only hulls at berth and a constant wait. When a missile can reach you in Sevastopol, Novorossiysk, or anywhere else, the very purpose of maintaining a large surface fleet in the region begins to look increasingly dubious. A ship ceases to be an instrument of power. It becomes an expensive and vulnerable target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Novorossiysk has demonstrated this quite clearly. Ukraine has acquired missiles that are unstoppable. And the Black Sea Fleet has already sensed this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ukraine now has missiles from which the Black Sea Fleet can no longer hide. This is no longer just speculation or propaganda\u2014it’s a new reality, confirmed in the harshest terms by Novorossiysk. What was recently considered a relatively safe base suddenly found itself within range. The fleet was initially forced to leave Sevastopol. At the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europe24.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europe24.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europe24.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europe24.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europe24.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.europe24.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24247,"href":"https:\/\/www.europe24.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24245\/revisions\/24247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europe24.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europe24.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europe24.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europe24.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}