Russia likely dismissed its Black Sea Fleet commander over heavy losses in recent weeks, according to a new assessment, shortly after Ukraine dramatically targeted one of Moscow’s patrol ships close to Russian territory.
“Likely because of Black Sea Fleet losses, on 15 February 2024, the Black Sea Fleet Commander, Admiral Viktor Sokolov, was dismissed,” the British Defense Ministry said in a post to social media on Wednesday.
Sources linked to the Russian state had reported in mid-February that Sokolov was sacked as head of the Black Sea Fleet after Ukraine destroyed the Caesar Kunikov, a Ropucha-class landing ship, using naval drones. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.
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Early on Tuesday, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known as the GUR, published footage appearing to show homegrown Magura V5 waterborne drones barreling into the Sergei Kotov, one of Russia’s four Project 22160 patrol ships. The vessel was near the Kerch Strait, Kyiv said, and local sources reported the closure of the Kerch Bridge overnight.
The vessel “suffered damage to the stern, right and left sides,” the GUR added in a statement. Russia’s Defense Ministry did not respond to a Newsweek comment request.
Seven Russian sailors were killed and 27 crew members injured, Kyiv said in an update on Wednesday.
“There are no safe harbors for Russian terrorists in the Black Sea and there will never be,” Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Tuesday.
“This is the third Russian Black Sea Fleet vessel sunk in the past five weeks,” the U.K. government said of the Sergei Kotov on Wednesday.
Russia has taken bruising losses to its Black Sea Fleet, based on the Crimean peninsula, at Ukraine’s hands since February 2022, despite Kyiv’s small naval force. Although Russian forces have inched westward across mainland Ukraine in recent weeks, Ukraine has maintained its success in striking valuable Russian assets in the Black Sea.
Ukrainian naval drones destroyed Russia’s missile-armed corvette Ivanovets in February, and have successfully attacked a handful of Russia’s landing ships, including the Caesar Kunikov. Ukraine’s persistent attacks have pushed Russia east in the Black Sea, moving assets to its Novorossiysk base. Reports have also suggested the Kremlin is planning a new military base at the port of Ochamchire in Abkhazia, a breakaway region of Georgia. This would put Russian Black Sea assets even further from Ukraine’s coastline.
On Tuesday, The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Sokolov and also Sergei Kobylash, the commander of Russia’s long-range aviation of the country’s air force, for alleged war crimes committed between October 2022 and March 2023.
The international court, which is not recognized by Moscow, said the commanders were allegedly responsible for crimes including “directing attacks at civilian objects.”
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile strikes carried out by the forces under their command against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023,” the ICC said.
“We don’t recognize this,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.