Kyiv’s attacks on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet (BSF) have created a logistical dilemma for the Russian Navy, preventing the ships from attacking Ukraine with Kalibr missiles.
Russian ships are now docked in Novorossiysk, a Russian port further east from occupied Crimea, but the Kalibr missiles and loading facilities are in Sevastopol in occupied Crimea, said Dmytro Pletenchuk, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Navy in an interview.
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While Novorossiysk could provide most of its logistical needs such as power and refueling capabilities, it lacks facilities to load Kalibr missiles.
“There are logistics supplies [in Novorossiysk], the only thing is that there’s no logistical structure for loading cruise missiles,” said Pletenchuk.
An earlier Kyiv Post report stated that Novorossiysk lacks dry docks and other necessary facilities and is overall a major downgrade from the Crimea port.
Russia has since redeployed its vessels from occupied Crimea to Novorossiysk and surrounding ports after multiple Ukrainian attacks, such as the cruise missile strikes that saw the destruction of Russia’s Rostova-Na-Danu submarine.
Ukraine’s new unmanned sea drones have also posed a new threat to Russia’s naval assets.
In the interview, Pletenchuk also explained that Russia likely resorted to ballistic missiles in its recent attack on Odesa because of the Kalibr dilemma. However, he added that ballistic missiles are also harder to intercept, and only the Russians knew the true intention behind the use of ballistic missiles in the attack.
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