Russian Black Sea Fleet Targeted in Missile Attack

Ukraine fired an anti-ship missile at Russia’s main Black Sea fleet base in Crimea on Sunday, according to local Russian-backed authorities.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, said on Sunday that Moscow’s military had “repelled an attack by an anti-ship missile” earlier in the day along the north of the port city. “The falling fragments caused a small fire, which was quickly extinguished,” he said.

Ukraine has frequently attacked Russia’s Black Sea fleet, particularly vessels based on the annexed Crimean peninsula. The Kremlin has controlled the territory for a decade, and Kyiv has vowed to reclaim it.

The strikes on the Black Sea fleet, using a combination of naval drones and missiles, have been one of the most successful parts of Ukraine’s war effort against Russia. Kyiv officials estimate Moscow has lost around a third of its Black Sea Fleet.

Ukraine’s home-grown Neptune anti-ship missiles were credited with sinking Russia’s Black Sea Fleet flagship, the Moskva, in April 2022.

Unconfirmed reports from open-source intelligence accounts suggested a Russian submarine salvage ship, the Kommuna, was damaged. Local Telegram channels in Crimea reported fire trucks in northern Sevastopol.

A spokesperson for Ukraine’s navy did not directly refer to any strike on Sunday, but told Newsweek that “explosions at military facilities will continue to occur in the temporarily occupied Crimea.”

An unnamed source in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, the GUR, told The Kyiv Independent that information was still being verified.

Ukraine’s navy has previously said Russia has moved many of its vessels from Sevastopol, which sits on Crimea’s southwest coast, to its Black Sea fleet base at Novorossiysk, in Russia’s Krasnodar region.

The Kremlin is also thought to be establishing another Black Sea base in Abkhazia, a breakaway region internationally recognized as part of Georgia. This would move Russia’s resources in the region even further away from Ukraine’s reach.

Since the start of the year, Ukraine has targeted a number of Russia’s Black Sea fleet vessels. Kyiv has struck a handful of Russia’s landing ships, a reconnaissance vessel, a corvette and a patrol ship since the beginning of 2024.

Although Russia’s navy has “suffered significantly in the Black Sea,” its overall naval force remains strong and “Russian naval activity worldwide is at a significant peak,” General Christopher Cavoli, the head of the America’s European command, told U.S. lawmakers earlier this month.

The British government has previously assessed that Russia is using decoys and false silhouettes to ward off Ukrainian drone and missile strikes at its Black Sea facilities.

Moscow has also announced it will beef up the protection around its fleet with large-caliber machine guns to shoot at incoming naval drones before they strike Russian vessels.

The new firepower will help “increase the survivability of ships and vessels” alongside new training programs “both during the day and at night to repel enemy terrorist attacks,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said in March.