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Ukraine Decimates Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Daring Attacks
29 Aug
Summary
- One-third of Russia's Black Sea Fleet destroyed or damaged
- Flagship Moskva sunk in April 2022 attack
- Russia forced to move fleet away from Crimea, weakening control
As of August 2025, Ukraine's military has continued to heap pain and humiliation on Vladimir Putin's navy in the Black Sea. Despite having a relatively small naval force, Kyiv's forces have managed to inflict substantial damage on Russia's Black Sea Fleet since the outbreak of full-scale hostilities in 2022.
In the past three years, roughly one-third of the fleet's ships have either been destroyed or severely damaged in a series of drone and missile attacks. This includes the spectacular sinking of the Black Sea Fleet's flagship, the cruiser Moskva, in April 2022. The ongoing assaults have forced Putin's admirals to move the fleet away from the Crimean peninsula to the port city of Novorossiysk, significantly weakening Russia's ability to control the strategically important Black Sea.
These daring Ukrainian operations have dealt a major blow to Russia's naval power and prestige in the region. With its fleet crippled and forced to retreat, Moscow's grip on the Black Sea has been substantially eroded, hampering its ability to project power and support its forces on the southern front of the conflict.
