Threats from Black Sea Ukrainians may face in winter: military expert comments

He said this on Espreso TV. 

The first threat is obstruction of navigation. It is relevant because the Russian troops continue to carry it out and involve ships, aircraft and missile systems, Ryzhenko noted.

"The Russians continue to conduct this operation, involving ships of the Black Sea Fleet based in Sevastopol. We are talking about patrol ships like Vasily Bykov and missile boats based in Novoozerne. In fact, they are ready to intercept shipping if it goes beyond the safe corridor that now passes through Pryberezhne, the territorial waters of Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine," he said.

According to him, the second danger for Ukraine could be missile attacks by ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

"Now the Russians have dispersed their ships. Two ships are in Sevastopol, the Russian frigate Admiral Makarov and the corvette Cyclone. There are also ships in Novorossiysk and three ships in the Tuapse basing point. All of them can use their missiles to strike Ukraine. In total, 56 missiles can be used in a salvo. However, to this we need to add 4 more ships based in the Caspian Sea with the same missiles, there may be 32 (missiles - ed.). That is, 88 missiles is quite a lot, they can do a lot of damage," said Captain 1st Rank of the Ukrainian Navy Reserve.

Ukraine's Air Defense Forces have learned to shoot down Kalibr missiles. Therefore, the Russians are now combining their use with other means of air attack, he added.

"Occupying Russian troops combine the use of such missiles with Shaheds and other air-launched missiles. The goal is to detect our air defense systems and find routes that would bypass these systems," Ryzhenko emphasized.

The third threat concerns an amphibious operation. The Russians have forces in the Black Sea for this, but such an operation is irrelevant now because there are no operational conditions for it, he said.

• During a briefing in Brussels on November 14, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg 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 announced its intention to move them to occupied Abkhazia in Georgia.
• Zelenskyy recently noted that Ukraine's Defense Forces are making progress and have been able to partially destroy the Russian Federation's Black Sea Fleet.
• On November 25, British intelligence reported on the problems of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Novorossiysk.