The last refuge of the Russians fell; The order came to Group 13: "Strike..."

Now, Kyiv's relentless campaign to find and sink Russian warships has already reached those closed and once safe waters, writes the Kyiv Post.

Last week, Kremlin naval officials ordered virtually all major warships operating in the Black Sea region to gather in the Sea of ​​Azov, in the waters south of the occupied Ukrainian port cities of Mariupol and Berdyansk, for "exercises."

That area is otherwise very demanding for large ships due to narrowed shores nearby, shallow depths and shifting seabed. According to some reports, the Kremlin has concentrated as many as five amphibious assault ships, twelve surface combat vessels and a fleet escort.

Russian state media have documented attempts by Ukraine to attack Black Sea Fleet ships, and at least one attack was interrupted by Russian air force helicopters that intercepted and destroyed a USV ship that attempted to pass through the strait and enter the Sea of ​​Azov.

The maneuvers of the Russian Black Sea Fleet allegedly began on Friday, June 7, and initially there were no significant incidents. However, the situation became more dangerous on the night between the 8th and 9th of June when Ukrainian naval drones entered Taganrog, a narrow bay abutting the Russian mainland in the Sea of ​​Azov, and exploded next to a tugboat.

Neither vessel was seriously damaged, but the tug's captain decided it was safer to return to the Russian port of Azov, Russian news platform Baza reported. Russian military bloggers confirmed the attacks. Ukrainian military bloggers also claimed that on the same night one of the Russian attack ships broke away from the main fleet and sailed into the Russian land port of Yeisk, on the other side of the Taganrog Bay, followed by reports that that ship was also attacked.

This targeting of Russian bases more than 200 kilometers north of the Kremlin-controlled Kerch Strait, in waters that the Russian Navy theoretically fully owns, marked a new point in the Russian-Ukrainian naval war: the moment when Kyiv's forces penetrated the last safe nest of the Black Sea Fleet.

Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate, said on Friday that the Kremlin is trying to hide the ships in waters beyond Kyiv's range because now Ukraine's goal is to attack the ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet wherever they retreat.

On May 30, special operations teams from Group 13, Ukraine's elite naval strike group, used MAGURA kamikaze maritime drones to shoot down, ram and sink two Russian KC-701 Tunets-class patrol boats operating near the Kerch Strait.

According to some analyses, Ukrainian forces have sunk at least a third of the ships of the Black Sea Fleet, and this is considered a huge loss for the Russians.

Moreover, in September 2023, the main fleet base in Sevastopol was hit.