Yesterday at 20:15
The Ukrainian Defense Forces are effectively destroying the Russian fleet, but in terms of the number of forces and means, Russia still maintains dominance in the Black Sea. Captain 1st Rank Reserve, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian Navy (2004-2020) Andriy Ryzhenko stated this on the FREEDOM TV channel.
“The most difficult thing, probably, in this situation at sea is not so much to capture some object at sea, but how to hold it… In order to hold an object at sea, surface forces are needed. There are no surface forces. And if we take again that option of dominance, then in terms of the number of forces and means Russia retains dominance in the Black Sea. Of course, it’s very good that we carried out such an operation, and the enemy’s forces and means, which ensured its combat potential, really became smaller,” he said.
Ryzhenko separately noted the destruction of at least one landing ship by the Ukrainian Defense Forces.
“Landing ships of this project 775, they can be used by the enemy in order to counter our offensive, the liberation, for example, of the Azov region. That is, in practice, this means that such ships approach the coast at a certain distance and begin to fire at it from multiple launch rocket systems that are located in their bow. This is a naval analogue of the BM-21 Grad system. And on each such ship there are 320 unguided missiles, which, in general, fly at a distance of at least 25 kilometers. And this was the practice when Russia stormed Mariupol, then these landing ships fired at Azovstal, which was defended by our marines and the Azov regiment. Therefore, it is clear that the operation itself, which took place yesterday, was planned very competently, the enemy’s weak points were exploited,” Ryzhenko said.
He stated that very serious damage was caused to the Russian ships that were in dock and were not particularly protected. Ryzhenko does not rule out the possibility that there are still losses of ship personnel that are being hushed up by the Russians.
“The situation is developing really dynamically. However, I want to say that it is very important for us now to build up our surface forces. I see this concept in the mosquito fleet mode, because it is very important for us not only to regain control over the coastal sea zone – this is 40-100 nautical miles from our coast, but also to retain it. We will not be able to hold these waters without ships, without boats. Therefore, we need to think about this now,” Ryzhenko said.
Previously, a powerful blow was dealt to the Russian Black Sea Fleet on September 13. As a result of the attack on the ship repair plant in Sevastopol, the submarine “Rostov-on-Don” and the large landing ship “Minsk” were significantly damaged. This information is confirmed by Ukrainian intelligence.
