The Russian Black Sea Fleet has been left “functionally inactive” following a series of Ukrainian missile strikes, Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, has said.

”Putin’s continued illegal occupation of Ukraine is exacting a massive cost on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet which is now functionally inactive,” said Mr Shapps. “Russia has sailed the Black Sea since 1783 but is now forced to constrain [its] fleet to port. And even there Putin’s ships are sinking!”

Ukrainian forces on Sunday destroyed two large Russian warships, the Yamal and the Azov, in the Black Sea along with other facilities used by Moscow’s navy on the annexed Crimean peninsula.

The Black Sea Fleet has lost nearly a quarter of its warships since the February 2022 invasion.

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