Russia’s Black Sea Fleet lost 15 percent of combat strength since start of war with Ukraine

The Russian publication Proekt has calculated that Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has lost 15 percent of its combat vessels since the start of the invasion of Ukraine.

At the outset of the war, the Black Sea Fleet had 275 ships and boats, out of which only 58 were designed for combat. Together with patrol boats, the fleet had a total of 74 combat units.

Proekt has traced mentions of at least 12 different ships and boats belonging to the fleet that have been either damaged or sunk. This reduces the fleet’s combat strength by 15 percent.

The Russian Defense Ministry has not reported the fleet’s losses in the war with Ukraine.

In April 2022, the Black Sea Fleet flagship, missile cruiser Moskva, sank 80 nautical miles south of Odesa. Russia claimed that this happened due to a fire that led to a munitions explosion aboard the ship. On other accounts, the cruiser had been hit by two Ukrainian Neptune missiles.

The Russian Defense Ministry denied any casualties at first, then admitted that one person had been killed, while 27 other servicemen were officially reported missing. In November, 17 of them were declared dead by a court decision. Other sailors, whose families did not petition the court, may be declared legally dead if they remain missing for six months.

Meduza’s sources estimated that 37 crew members had died in the sinking of Moskva.