8 ships since the beginning of the invasion: how Ukraine destroyed the Russian Black Sea Fleet with missiles and drones (photo)
In total, the list of destroyed units of the Black Sea Fleet includes seven ships and one submarine. Almost all the ships have been critically damaged and are unlikely to return to service.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Black Sea Fleet has lost seven ships and one submarine. This was reported on November 11 by the fundraising platform UNITED24, which started raising funds for a fleet of marine drones a year ago on the initiative of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The list of damaged or completely destroyed ships includes the cruiser Moskva, the large landing ship Minsk, the landing ship Olenegorsky Gornyak, the landing ship Saratov, the corvette Askold, the Serna-class landing boat, the Akula-class landing boat, and the submarine Rostov-on-Don.
The cruiser Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was hit by Neptune anti-ship missiles on April 13, 2022. The next day, the ship sank 150 kilometers from Odesa.
Photo: TASS
The large amphibious assault ship Minsk was hit on the night of September 12-13, 2023, as a result of a strike on a dry dock in Sevastopol. The ship has been critically damaged and is practically beyond repair. At the same time and place, the Rostov-on-Don diesel-electric submarine was destroyed. The strikes were carried out with Storm Shadow air-to-surface missiles.
Photo: Russian Ministry of Defense
It is noteworthy that the submarine was destroyed in a surface position. According to experts from Defense Express, this option was the only one possible for the Ukrainian forces, as submarines are usually a very difficult target to hit, and anti-submarine ships are needed for this task.
“The Olenegorsk Gornyak was shot down as a result of a joint operation by the SBU and the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Novorossiysk Bay. A naval surface drone filled with 450 kg of TNT was used to carry out the combat mission. Later it became known that the impact caused a three-meter diameter hole in the ship’s hull partially below the waterline.
Photo: Russian Ministry of Defense
The Saratov landing ship was destroyed in the Russian-occupied port of Berdiansk on March 24, 2022. Then the Ukrainian Armed Forces used a Tochka-U tactical missile, which caused a large-scale fire on the ship.
Photo: TASS
The corvette Askold was shot down on November 4, 2023, in the temporarily occupied Kerch. Experts noted that the Russian ship was hit by a SCALP-EG missile, while the corvette suffered critical damage to very important elements.
Photo: REN TV
And finally, the Serna and Akula-class boats went down on November 10 this year as a result of an operation by Ukrainian forces. The ships, which were in the area of the village of Chornomorske, were attacked by naval drones. According to Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, the Ukrainian services conducted an extremely successful operation, as the Russians will not be able to replace these ships.
