Ukraine’s navy said that Russia has withdrawn its last naval patrol ship from occupied Crimea, a major victory for Kyiv in its sustained military campaign against the Black Sea peninsula.

“The last patrol ship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation is bolting from our Crimea just now. Remember this day,” Ukrainian navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said.

With no warships at its disposal, Ukraine has used missiles and naval drone attacks to force Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet to abandon its headquarters at Sevastopol and retreat to the Russian port city of Novorossiysk.

Vice-Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa, Ukraine’s navy chief, said earlier this month that Russia had been forced to rebase nearly all its combat-ready warships from the annexed peninsula.

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