On 26 December, following the Ukrainian missile strike that destroyed Russia’s large landing ship Novocherkassk, Grant Shapps, the British Secretary of State for Defense, said that the “latest destruction of Putin’s navy demonstrates that those who believe there’s a stalemate in the Ukraine war are wrong.”
“They haven’t noticed that over the past four months 20% of Russia’s Black Sea fleet has been destroyed,” he added in his post on X/Twitter.
Ukrainian missile and surface suicide drone attacks forced Russia to relocate many ships from its Black Sea Fleet’s main base in Sevastopol, occupied Crimea, to ports in Russia located further away from Ukraine.
Shapps noted that Russia’s dominance in the Black Sea is now challenged, and “the new UK and Norway-led maritime capability coalition is helping to ensure Ukraine will win at sea.”
Read also:
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- UK intel: Russia’s Black Sea Fleet missile ops face logistics hurdles
- Ukrainian Navy: 15 Russian warships destroyed, 12 damaged