British Defense Minister ridicules Russia: It hides ships in ports, but they sink even there
UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps (photo: Getty Images)
Russia continues its large-scale military aggression against Ukraine and suffers significant losses, in particular, the Black Sea Fleet has lost its functional activity, states UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps.
This is how the British official reacted to today's defeat of two Russian large landing ships Yamal and Azov by the Ukrainian Defense Forces in occupied Crimea.
"Putin's continued illegal occupation of Ukraine is exacting a massive cost on Russia's Black Sea Fleet which is now functionally inactive," the British Defense Secretary said in a statement.
He noted that the Russian fleet has been sailing the Black Sea since 1783, but "now it is forced to constrain its fleet to a port."
"And even there Putin's ships are sinking!" Shapps concluded.
Ukraine's Ministry of Defense informs about the destruction of Russian Yamal and Azov warships (photo: twitter.com/DefenceU)
Destruction of Russian Black Sea Fleet ships
Earlier today, on March 24, the Strategic Communications Directorate of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the Defense Forces had struck at Russian occupiers' facilities in Sevastopol. Two Russian landing ships and a communications center were destroyed.
Thus, the Ukrainian military attacked the large landing ships Yamal and Azov. They also hit the communications center of the Russian occupation forces and several infrastructure facilities of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the temporarily occupied Sevastopol.
Earlier in the night, there were explosions in the occupied Crimea, particularly in Sevastopol. The network wrote about the alleged work of air defense, and the occupiers blocked the Crimean bridge. According to residents, a fire broke out in the Kozacha Bay in Sevastopol.
OSINT analysts also noted that a large communication hub of the Russian Black Sea Fleet could have been hit in Sevastopol.
On the night of March 5, a special unit of the Defense Intelligence Group 13 near the Kerch Strait attacked the Black Sea Fleet patrol ship Sergei Kotov. As a result of the attack by Magura V5 maritime drones, the ship was eliminated. This is the third Russian Black Sea Fleet vessel to sink in the last five weeks.
Following a series of significant losses of Russian ships in the Black Sea, on March 10, Russian Navy Chief Admiral Nikolai Evmenov was dismissed and replaced by Northern Fleet Commander Admiral Alexander Moiseev.
In February, Admiral Viktor Sokolov, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, was dismissed due to losses.
