Moscow’s submarines have retreated from Crimea to Krasnodar in southern Russia amid a local security threat, the British defence ministry said today.
According to the ministry, the relocation is “highly likely” due to the increased threat of “Ukrainian long-range strike capability”.
“In the last two months, the fleet headquarters and its main naval aviation airfield have been attacked,” it added.
The MoD noted that “guaranteeing the Black Sea fleet’s Crimea basing was likely one of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s motivations for annexing the peninsula in 2014”.
Elsewhere, a Ukrainian strike on a Russian-controlled village in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine killed seven civilians, including three children, on Monday night, Russian-installed officials said on Tuesday.
The strike hit Krasnorichenske, in part of Luhansk region held Russian forces, Luhansk’s representative to the Joint Centre of Control and Coordination (JCCC) said on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian occupiers in Ukraine are in panic mode as he announced that his soldiers have marched further east into territory recently left by Russia.
