Ukraine Bringing the Conflict Right to Russia's Door

"I will only say that we are all grateful to the Security Service of  Ukraine for pushing back the war to the aggressor state."

"What you bring to the world,  you end up with the same."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

"[The latest attack by Ukraine on Russian vessels is an indication that] drones are changing the rules of the game ... and ultimately destroying the value of the Russian fleet."

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to President Zelenskyy

Russia possesses a superior army in contrast to Ukraine's, a much larger armed force, a greater arsenal of weaponry and a superior navy which has to the present controlled the seas in this war that Moscow has imposed upon its neighbour. Russian ships have had the freedom to regularly launch cruise missiles at Ukraine's major ports and cities, wreaking damage on civilian as well as military targets. Targeting civilian infrastructure is a war crime, a fact that has never deterred the Kremlin, nor Vladimir Putin.

With the declaration by Ukraine that its sea drones have once again struck a major Russian port, damaging a warship, underlines Kyiv's growing enterprise and capabilities in responding to vicious Russian aggression. The Black Sea has becoming an increasingly prominent and dominant battleground as the war between Russia and Ukraine grinds on. Each time Ukraine launches a successful attack against Russian targets, Russian President Putin calls them 'terrorist' attacks.

That Russians can accept its military launching a full-scale invasion with all it entails on a neighbouring country and feel justified that in doing so their leader has, as he claims, defended the integrity of Russian borders and forestalled an attack by Ukraine against Russia, is astonishing. That they can agree with their president that Ukraine commits 'terrorist' acts by defending itself and taking the war into Russia itself in a demonstration of offensive capabilities is completely delusional.

Maritime traffic was halted for a short time with the strike on Novorossiysk; the first time a commercial Russian port was targeted so far in this conflict. The Black Sea port hosts a naval base, shipbuilding yards and an oil terminal, key for exports. It is located roughly 110 kilometres east of Crimea where according to the Russian Defence Ministry another overnight attack had been thwarted.

Ukraine's Security Service and the Ukrainian navy damaged Olenegorsky Gornyak in the attack. A landing vessel of the Russian navy which listed after being hit, making the ship incapable of performing combat missions. An image from Planet Labs of a few hours following the attack showed a ship dockside, another vessel next to it. In the image the ship matched the measurements of the Olenegorsky Gornyak, and images on social media showed the ship listing.

The attack on Friday represented the latest in a series of strikes within Russia itself; two in Moscow, reflecting an increase in fighting in the Black Sea that followed Russia's withdrawal from the agreement permitting Ukraine to export its grain by sea. Russian drones two days earlier had caused significant damage and a huge fire at grain facilities in the Odesa region. 

 

A day before that, according to the Russian military, Kyiv's forces attempted an attack on two Russian patrol vessels southwest of Sevastopol in Moscow-annexed Crimea.

In this image from video made available on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023, a seaborne drone approaches a Russian tanker on the Black Sea. Ukrainian drones have hit a Russian tanker in the Black Sea near Crimea, according to Russian officials. The strike was the second sea attack involving drones in one day, after Ukraine said its sea drones also struck a major Russian port earlier on Friday. (AP Photo)

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin is back in threatening mode again, promising retaliation for yet another Ukraine drone attack, this time on a Russian tanker just a matter of hours after the hit on the Russian warship. Traffic on the Kerch bridge linking Crimea to Russia was briefly halted after the Sig tanker was hit in the Kerch Strait. Two tugboats arrived at the scene of the damaged tanker, reported on Russia media early Saturday.

Chemical tanker SIG, which is under U.S. sanctions for supplying jet fuel to Russian forces in Syria supporting President Bashar al-Assad. Azer Musayev / marinetraffic.com

"[Several members of the ship's crew were injured by broken glass in the attack]."

"The detonation due to the explosion on the ship was visible from the peninsula, which the local residents thought was an explosion in the vicinity of Yakovenkovo settlement not far from the Crimean bridge."

Vladimir Rogov, Russian-installed official, Zaporizhzhia region