(UnitedVoice.com) – The second anniversary of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has come and gone. The two countries aren’t any closer to a ceasefire than when hostilities began in February 2022. Over the last two years, both nations have suffered incredible losses. Putin, who once believed Ukraine would be easy to defeat, has had to make changes. One of those adjustments was to dismiss the head of his Black Sea Fleet.
Black Sea Fleet
The Black Sea remains critical to the Russian invasion. At the beginning of the war, Putin’s forces blockaded the body of water with its Black Sea Fleet, making it difficult for Ukraine to move goods around the world. That hurt the Ukrainian economy when the nation needed all the money it could get to build up its forces.
Fortunately for Ukraine, the US and European allies provided weapons and weapons systems that allowed the smaller military to gain back some control of the sea, and it started exporting again. They’ve done so by destroying multiple Russian vessels.
On March 5, Ukrainian drone boats pursued the Sergei Kotov, a Russian missile corvette, and sank the vessel. The 308-foot ship reportedly sank off the coast of Crimea, a peninsula Russia forcibly annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Since the war began, Ukraine has destroyed a cruiser, four landing ships, a supply ship, a submarine, two missile corvettes, a small landing craft, and several patrol boats. The losses infuriated Putin so much that he made changes at the top of his Black Sea Fleet last month.
Big Change
In February, before the anniversary of the war, reports began surfacing that the Kremlin fired Black Sea Commander Admiral Viktor Sokolov. The Russian government didn’t confirm nor deny the reports. Putin reportedly replaced the commander with Vice Admiral Sergey Pinchuk.
The reports about the change came after Ukraine sank two Russian vessels last month. The Kremlin reportedly considered the losses humiliating.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the British Defense Ministry informed the public that the reports appeared accurate. In an intelligence update, officials said the most recent ship destroyed was the third in the last five weeks.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 06 March 2024.
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/JA3Q89aXTg #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/l4ezM8bsFb
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 6, 2024
The British Defense Ministry pointed out the Ukrainian military was continuing to “limit the freedom” of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
Ukraine’s navy is much smaller than Russia’s. The fact that the country is succeeding in its efforts to sink Russian vessels is a testament to the importance of ongoing military aid from America and Europe.
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