Russian Baltic Fleet degrade due to war in Ukraine - ISW

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) says this, citing a report by the Polish intelligence organization Rochan Consulting.

It is noted that the fleet has lost its ability to conduct large-scale amphibious offensive operations because its Ropucha-class landing ships and 336th Naval Infantry Brigade have been involved in combat in Ukraine. 

The report adds that three of the Baltic Fleet’s landing ships deployed to the Black Sea and are now unable to deploy back to their home ports in Baltiysk. According to the experts, the 336th Marine Brigade has suffered significant losses in combat in Ukraine, which significantly limits the Baltic Sea.

The ISW also recalled that it has previously observed the commitment of naval infantry assets of the Baltic, Pacific, and Northern Fleets to various axes in Ukraine, and the degradation of these elements is likely to further impede Russian naval capabilities in the Baltic, Arctic, and Pacific.

Attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol: what is known

On Friday, September 22, powerful explosions were heard in the temporarily occupied Crimea: the Ukrainian Armed Forces confirmed the defeat of the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol.

According to the Russian-appointed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, Ukrainian troops attacked the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. He added that a rocket fragment fell near the Lunacharsky Theater.

The Russian propaganda agency TASS reported that the wreckage from the attack on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was "scattered for hundreds of meters". A large number of ambulances are on their way to the scene. 

At the same time, the so-called governor of Sevastopol said that civilian infrastructure near the headquarters was allegedly not damaged. According to him, "not even broken windows were recorded". A fire is currently being extinguished at the scene.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said that air defense allegedly shot down five missiles and reported one dead soldier.

At the same time, the press service of the Strategic Communications Directorate of the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces later confirmed the damage to the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. 

Subsequently, the head of the Ukraine's Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, said that at least 9 people were killed and 16 wounded in the Ukrainian attack on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. Russian generals were among them.

In his commentary, Budanov refused to say what kind of missile hit the Russian object. Instead, Sky News, citing sources in the Ukrainian Air Force, wrote that Storm Shadow missiles provided to Ukraine by the United Kingdom were used in the attack on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters.

Later, it turned out that the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the temporarily occupied Sevastopol was hit as a result of the successful work of the Special Operations Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The missile hit there during a leadership meeting and caused the deaths and injuries of dozens of occupiers.

The head of the press center of the Southern Defense Forces, Natalia Humeniuk, noted that the Ukrainian Defense Forces' attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol on Friday, September 22, was not the only target of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. There will be more such "surprises" for the occupiers in the future.

Later, it was reported that 34 officers, including Fleet Commander Viktor Sokolov, were eliminated after the attack on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol.