The country’s state news agency reported on Friday that Russia had replaced the commander of its Black Sea Fleet, following a series of setbacks including a recent powerful attack on one of its bases in Crimea. and the loss of their capital ship in April and the control of one in June, the tiny island plays an important role in Russia’s naval operations.
The shaking shows the gravitational pull of the obstruction on the Black Sea Fleet’s operations. While there are unconfirmed reports of similar major changes in the leadership of other forces, they have not yet been made public by the Russian government.
In a report by the state news agency, Tass, on Friday, the new commander, Vice Admiral Viktor N. Sokolov, was quoted saying that he was appointed by the country’s defense minister last week.
The comments came as he spoke to junior officers in Sevastopol, Crimea’s largest port city and a fleet base since Russia illegally seized the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
“The Black Sea Fleet is engaged in a special military operation and is successfully fulfilling all the tasks set for it,” Admiral Sokolov, 60, told officers, based on Tass, using the Kremlin’s terminology for the conflict.
Admiral Sokolov, who previously served as head of the St.Petersburg-based Kuznetsov Naval Academy, Russia’s top officer training school, added that the fleet is expected to receive 12 new ships this year. , along with air and land vehicles.
He replaces Vice Admiral Igor V. Osipov, who has commanded the fleet since 2019. In May, Britain’s defense intelligence agency reported that Admiral Osipov may have been suspended after the sinking of the fleet’s flagship, the cruiser Moskva. Asked about the report at the time, a senior Pentagon official added that the commander had been fired.
Pro-Kremlin military analysts have cited the Black Sea Fleet as the weakest link in Russia’s military effort. Since the start of the war in February, it has suffered repeated and embarrassing defeats. Ukraine says it used Neptune missiles to sink the Moscow ship in April, an attack Russia has never acknowledged. This is the largest warship lost in decades.
The Black Sea Fleet is an integral part of Russia’s war effort and plays a key role in Moscow’s attempt to gain control along Ukraine’s coast, wreaking havoc on Ukraine’s economy. The fleet has also launched long-range sea-based missiles to hit targets deep inside Ukraine.
“Most of Russia’s naval victories have been achieved here by the Black Sea Fleet,” Admiral Sokolov told officers, according to One video coverage of the event by the local television network.
The change in leadership comes as Ukraine increasingly uses more sophisticated and destructive weapons to attack Russian-held territory. But Russia has shown a strong ability to absorb losses and maintain superior military power.
And it remains unclear exactly how much the fleet suffered in the attack on its Saki airbase in Crimea earlier this month, which Ukraine says was carried out by local special forces and partisans. Satellite images analyzed by The New York Times shows at least eight destroyed jets.
In a press conference with reporters on Friday, a Western official said that the attack had “displaced more than half of the combat aircraft of the naval aviation forces of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.” used”. He added that “the Russian system is busy trying to find a way to blame the incident.”
However, US officials countered the idea that the fleet’s share of aviation assets had been disabled. They say that recent Ukrainian attacks in Crimea are significant, and that the explosions and damage caused by Ukraine are real, including the loss of several fighter jets. However, they warn that the damage is not decisive, and the recent attacks alone are not enough to cause a game changer.
In June, Russian troops withdrew from tiny Snake Island in the Black Sea after several attacks by Ukrainian forces, limiting their control over Ukrainian shipping lanes.
