Russian Navy Launches Drills off Every Coast, Except in the Black Sea

Courtesy Russian Ministry of Defense

Published Jul 31, 2024 8:05 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

On Wednesday, the Russian Navy launched a massive series of drills in the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific, the Baltic Sea and the Caspian Sea, according to the Kremlin. The Black Sea Fleet - which has been hammered by Ukrainian attacks - was not included. 

The Russian Ministry of Defense said that the service will mobilize 20,000 personnel and 300 vessels across the four regions. They will carry out more than 300 combat exercises, ranging from "passive interference" to air defense and anti-submarine warfare. 

Ukraine has damaged, destroyed or sunk at least 15 Russian warships and auxiliaries, including the Black Sea Fleet flagship, the Moskva. Its unmanned bomb boats have proven to be an elusive and persistent threat, reaching Russian targets hundreds of nautical miles from Ukrainian-controlled shores. The last Russian patrol ship departed Sevastopol - the fleet's ancestral home - and headed for the relative safety of Novorossiysk in the northeast corner of the Black Sea. With Western-supplied long range missiles, Ukraine has struck multiple Russian vessels in the Kerch Strait, prompting the Russian Navy to temporarily withdraw from the Sea of Azov as well.

Overnight Monday, the Ukrainian Navy said that it struck a Russian weapons storage depot in the town of Kursk, about 60 miles from Ukrainian-controlled territory. A regional official confirmed a fire at an unnamed facility, and the Russian defense ministry said that it shot down a Ukrainian Neptune missile - the Ukrainian-built long range antiship missile that destroyed the cruiser Moskva in 2022. The Neptune is derived from the Soviet-era Kh-35 antiship missile, and Ukrainian engineers created a land-attack version last year.