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A Moscow politician broke ranks and vociferously declared the defeat of Vladimir Putin’s Black Sea fleet.
Knewz.com has learned that State Duma Deputy, Yevgeny Fyodorov, made these admissions less than 24 hours after Russia's relatively subdued Navy Day celebrations.
“Where is the fleet? It's gone,” Fyodorov said.
“This is really a victory of the enemy. It's a fact. That fact of the enemy's victory.”
“And the fact that the ships are still there somewhere, somewhere in Sevastopol or Novorossiysk, well, perhaps they are. But they do not exist in terms of a strategic combat unit. That is, they do not control the Black Sea,” said Fyodorov, echoing claims by more than one international intelligence agency.
“Do you understand?” Fyodorov asked his charges. “This is the fact of defeat. It's a defeat. It must be accepted. Like we accepted the defeat of Kherson, surrendered Kherson. Kherson was ours.”
British military intelligence also commented on the flotilla.
“Putin's continued illegal occupation of Ukraine is exacting a massive cost on Russia's Black Sea Fleet which is now functionally inactive. Russia has sailed the Black Sea since 1783 but is now forced to constrain its fleet to port. And even there Putin's ships are sinking!” the island country’s former defense minister, Grant Shapps, stated on X.
Another post by said defense ministry's official account claimed: “At least one-third of Russia's Black Sea Fleet has been sunk, destroyed, or damaged, according to the Ukrainian Navy. And the remaining Russian fleet has been pushed east, fleeing persistent Ukrainian attacks.”
“[Twenty-six] Russian Navy vessels were damaged or destroyed in the region between February 2022 and June 2024.”
“Commercial shipping is now returning to near pre-war levels in the region,” it noted, and concluded that “the size of the Russian Black Sea Naval Fleet has proved no match for Ukraine's maritime innovations.”
These revelations come mere days after Putin addressed sailors from China, Russia, and India (among others) during a muted version of its Navy Day celebrations.
The main ceremony was canceled in favor of a smaller one on the Neva River in St. Petersburg.
However, additional reports by Russian state media have since indicated that a large naval operation is afoot.
“Units and formations of the Russian Navy have begun conducting planned exercises in the operational zones of the Northern, Pacific, and Baltic Fleets, as well as in the area of responsibility of the Caspian Flotilla,” the Russian defense ministry told the Kommersant.
“The main goal of the exercises is to test the actions of the military command bodies of the Navy at all levels, as well as the readiness of the crews of ships, naval aviation units, and coastal troops of the Russian Navy to carry out their intended tasks.”
It has been reported that the exercise will comprise 300 vessels, as many exercises, and 20,000 personnel.
During the drill, anti-submarine and aircraft weapons, along with artillery will be deployed.