The Russian Navy Keeps Exposing Its Vulnerable Support Ships To Ukrainian Attack

When a Ukrainian navy anti-ship battery put two Neptune anti-ship missiles into the side of the Russian navy cruiser Moskva on April 13, eventually sinking the 612-foot vessel, the Ukrainians deprived the Russian Black Sea Fleet of its main air-defense.

That exposed the rest of the Black Sea Fleet—in particular, auxiliary support ships that can’t defend themselves—to attack by Ukraine’s missiles and drones. “Russia’s resupply vessels have minimum protection in the western Black Sea,” the U.K. Defense Ministry stated.

But that hasn’t stopped Russian fleet commanders from sending their most important auxiliaries—including rescue ships, crane barges and landing craft—to the most dangerous part of the western Black Sea around Ukraine’s strategic Snake Island, also known as Zmiinyi Island.

Whoever controls Snake Island controls the maritime approaches to Odesa, Ukraine’s biggest port and the key to its future economic recovery. On the first full day of Russia’s wider war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian forces led by Moskva bombarded Snake Island, captured its surviving Ukrainian defenders and set up their own garrison on the tiny, 110-acre island, 80 miles south of Odesa.

The destruction of Moskva, along with potentially scores of her 500 sailors and all 64 of her S-300 surface-to-air missiles, was a turning point in the naval campaign that’s been raging in parallel with intensive fighting on the ground in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian navy had just one major warship going into the wider war—the frigate Hetman Sahaydachniy. The navy scuttled the frigate in Odesa in the early hours of the war in order to prevent her ever falling into Russian hands.

Even without any big ships, however, the Ukrainian navy has fought a successful campaign with its Neptunes and missile-armed TB-2 drones—and with big assists from army anti-tank missile teams, army ballistic-missile batteries and air force fighters.

Moskva despite her age and poor condition—she commissioned in 1983 and underwent few major upgrades—was the linchpin of the Black Sea Fleet’s air-defenses. The Black Sea Fleet has three other air-defenses vessels: the three Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates with their 24 Buk medium-range SAMs.

But one of the three, the namesake Admiral Grigorovich, deployed to the Mediterranean Sea before the war—and now is stuck there. Turkey controls the Bosphorous Strait, the only waterway into the Black Sea, and hasn’t let any warships in since the Russian invasion.

Two frigates with 30-mile-range air-defense systems cannot control the air space over the 250-mile-wide western Black Sea, even with help from S-400 SAMs and Su-30 fighters based on the Crimean Peninsula.

The frigates aren’t even really trying. Commercial satellite imagery confirms that the Kremlin is keeping the frigates close to their home port Sevastopol. The U.K. Defense Ministry characterized it as a “retreat to Crimea.”

That helps to explain how the Ukrainian navy and air force were able sharply to escalate their air operations right after Moskva sank. Navy TB-2 drones armed with 10-mile-range laser-guided missiles blew up three Russian air-defense systems and a helicopter on Snake Island and also hit four of the Black Sea Fleet’s eight 55-foot-long Raptor patrol boats plus a landing craft around the island.

Ukrainian air force Su-27 fighters took advantage of the gaps in the island’s air-defenses and bombed it during a daring raid last weekend.

All the while, the Black Sea Fleet’s Crimea-based auxiliary ships kept sailing to and from the island. On May 9, commercial satellites spotted one of the Black Sea Fleet’s four 187-foot Project 22870 rescue vessels at the Snake Island pier. Landing craft also visited the island. And on May 11, a large floating crane was visible at the pier.

The auxiliaries have plenty to do. The satellite imagery hinted that their tasks so far have included clearing the wreck of the landing craft the TB-2s sank while also removing or replacing damaged air-defense systems.

It’s dangerous work for unarmed ships sailing without close escorts. Ukrainian drones, fighters and anti-ship missiles are a constant threat. Having taken out Moskva and all those Raptor patrol boats, among other vessels, it might be just a matter of time before the Ukrainians go hunting for Russian auxiliaries, too. “Russia’s current efforts to augment its forces on Zmiinyi Island offer Ukraine more opportunities to engage Russian troops and attrit materiel,” the U.K. Defense Ministry explained.

Indeed, there were unconfirmed reports they’ve already begun. According to Serihy Bratchuk, from the Odesa regional council, a Neptune battery on Thursday struck the Black Sea Fleet’s 311-foot rescue ship Vsevolod Bobrov off of Snake Island, heavily damaging the vessel.