UK intelligence tells about problems of Russian Black Sea Fleet in Novorossiysk

The UK Ministry of Defense reports.

The ability of the Russian Black Sea Fleet to use its base in Novorossiysk to reload ships with cruise missiles is likely to become a significant factor in the fleet's operational effectiveness.

The intelligence service emphasizes that the Russian Black Sea Fleet has traditionally reloaded cruise missiles in Sevastopol in the temporarily occupied Crimea.

"With that facility increasingly held at risk by Ukrainian long-range strikes, Russia will highly likely to see Novorossiysk as the best alternative site. However, relocating and reloading the missiles would require new delivery, storage, handling and loading processes," the intelligence suggests.

Recently, the Ukrainian military stated that Russia has paused firing maritime cruise missiles due to logistical problems in Novorossiysk. It is noted that Russia will likely seek to speed up overcoming these problems so that cruise missiles can attack Ukraine in the winter.

• Earlier, during a speech at the Second Parliamentary Summit of the Crimean Platform, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Russian Black Sea Fleet was gradually leaving the temporarily occupied Crimea.
• On October 4, the Intelligence Service of Ukraine announced that they had conducted an amphibious operation in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea, during which the reconnaissance men struck at Russian forces. After successfully completing the mission, the special forces retreated.
• On November 13, the Atesh movement reported that the Russians were forced to move ships from Crimea to Novorossiysk because of the Ukrainian army's attacks.
• During a briefing in Brussels on November 14, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also mentioned the successful attacks by the Ukrainian Defense Forces on Russian naval facilities in the temporarily occupied Crimea. As a result, Russia is forced to redeploy its ships, in particular, it has announced its intention to move them to occupied Abkhazia in Georgia.
• Zelenskyy recently noted that the Ukrainian Defense Forces are making progress and have managed to partially destroy the Russian Black Sea Fleet.