When Russia stole Crimea— with most of Ukraine's navy —Kyiv made the weapons with 200-to-1 combat ratio, crippling Assad's supply lines and turning the Black Sea into a graveyard for Putin's most elite force.
The situation in the Black Sea demonstrates how Ukraine's strategy has reshaped but not eliminated the maritime threat, as Russian forces adapt their tactics under pressure.
Moscow has been repeatedly outmaneuvered by Ukraine's innovative tactics and modern weaponry, forcing the retreat of its prized Black Sea Fleet from Crimea's historic ports to safer waters.
The Russian Navy does not plan to return to Crimea since Ukrainian strikes on the fleet and other assets in the occupied peninsula have made harboring there dangerous, according to Ukrainian Naval spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk.
Russian submarines in the Black Sea now find themselves vulnerable to Ukrainian strikes, with no safe repair options following the latest attack on the "Rostov-na-Donu" in occupied Crimea, potentially affecting four other submarines in the Black Sea.
Ukraine's naval chief claims that nearly all combat-ready Russian warships have been relocated from Crimea, significantly impacting Moscow's Black Sea operations.
In temporarily occupied Crimea, a surge in recruitment advertising by Russian-installed authorities signals a desperate push to bolster military ranks, as Moscow intensifies efforts to turn the peninsula into a strategic launchpad for its ongoing war against Ukraine. According to Krym.Realii, outdoor and online advertisements for contractual army service have multiplied, amid promises of high pay and land incentives.
The ongoing war in Ukraine has damaged one-third of Russia's Black Sea warships and cut off its ability to rotate naval assets through Turkish straits, weakening the Kremlin's power projection in the Mediterranean region it once dominated.
Ukrainian strikes on occupied Crimea's Sevastopol naval base compel Russian high-value vessels to use alternative ports, demonstrating Ukraine's success in reducing the Black Sea Fleet's ability to project power in the region, per UK intelligence.
"Our ultimate goal is the complete absence of military ships of the so-called Russian Federation in the Azov and Black Sea regions," Pletenchuk stated.