Amid increased Western support for Ukraine, Russia for the first time used a submarine in the Black Sea to fire cruise missiles at military targets in the neighboring country, the country’s Defense Ministry told Interfax. There is no independent confirmation of this.
One of the Black Sea Fleet’s six diesel-electric attack submarines, members of the Kilo class, launched a salvo of Kalibr missiles this Friday (29), according to the ministry. They are based in Sevastopol, Crimea, and so far Moscow has not reported their use in the Ukrainian War — although analysts believe they were active.
With that, another vector was added to the conflict. Cruise missiles are being used intensively in the conflict, and have already been launched from land-based systems off the coast of Crimea annexed by Moscow in 2014, from frigates in the Black Sea and from Tu-22 bombers.
The advantage of using submarines is the difficulty of determining their position before the attack, adding the factor of surprise. Still, despite the embarrassment of losing the heavy cruiser Moskva this month, the Russian Navy by and large dominates the Black Sea.
The sea, despite having less international fame than disputed waters such as the South China Sea, is the body of water with the most instability on its shores since the end of the Cold War in 1991. ten wars were fought, including the current one, in regions of countries bathed by its waters.
Moskva did not operate Kalibr missiles in this war. It was sunk two weeks ago by large explosions on board, which Kiev and the US say were caused by Ukraine-made Neptune coastal anti-ship missiles. Russia, on the other hand, says that there was an accident in its weapons depot, something just as or more shameful from an operational point of view.
That said, the Ukrainian Navy is locked in the conflict. His main ship was sunk by the crew in the harbor at the beginning of the war to prevent it from falling into Russian hands, and only small vessels are still seen in the Odessa region.
The biggest Ukrainian port is a focal point of the war. If Russia’s presumed plan to conquer the entire Black Sea coast is true, Odessa will have to be taken. But a pure amphibious assault would make no sense without liaison troops behind Ukraine’s defense in the city, which still seems a long way off.
Still, bombings are frequent and almost every day Russian ships appear quickly on the visible horizon of the coast of the city, as a form of psychological pressure.
