Russian commanders are “concerned” about threats to their amphibious ship flotilla after Ukraine’s army attacked their Black Sea port terminal, British defence chiefs have said.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Tuesday that the attack, which took place at an oil terminal in Novorssiysk port last Friday, has left Vladimir Putin’s forces at further risk of being undermined in the Black Sea.
Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is said to have relocated many of its submarine operations to the terminal after its Sevastopol base in occupied Crimea was struck by Ukraine over the summer.
“Russian commanders will likely be concerned about threats to the Novorssiysk-based amphibious landing ship flotilla,” the MoD said in a tweet.
“These vessels are relatively vulnerable without escorts and have assumed a more important role in supplying Russian forces in Ukraine since the Kerch Bridge was damaged in October.”
Full details of the incident are yet to emerge but any demonstration of a Ukrainian capability to threaten Novorssiysk would likely represent a further strategic challenge for the Black Sea Fleet.
(1/5) On 18 November 2022, multiple Russian and Ukrainian media outlets reported that an attack took place at an oil terminal in Novorssiysk port on Russia’s Black Sea coast. A major base of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet (BSF) is close to the oil terminal.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) November 22, 2022
The MoD added: “It would also further undermine Russia’s already reduced maritime influence in the Black Sea.”
It comes as Ukrainians are braced for a winter with little or no power in several areas, including Kyiv, where temperatures have already dropped below freezing as Russian strikes have crippled half of the country's energy capacity.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged residents of Kyiv and several other areas to limit electricity use and said half of the country's power capacity had been knocked out by Russian rockets.
Sergey Kovalenko, the head of YASNO, which provides energy for Kyiv, said: “Stock up on warm clothes, blankets, think about options that will help you wait a long outage.
"It's better to do it now than to be miserable."
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt also said on Tuesday: "It is right that the Government increased borrowing to support millions of business and families throughout the pandemic and the aftershocks of Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine.”
