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© 2024 AFPUkraine lands blows in Black Sea as frontline stagnates
By Erin FLANAGAN and Benoit TOUSSAINT PARIS©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
56 Comments
John
Another ship of the Black Sea “fleet” begins a special submersible operation!
TaiwanIsNotChina
Some stunning success by Ukraine in the Black Sea. Maybe some high value monetary losses will cause Putin to reconsider his actions as the human losses clearly don't.
UChosePoorly
I wonder which ship of the Black Sea Fleet is the next to meet its maker? Should start a pool.
stormcrow
Hats off to Ukraine! They're doing one hell of a job!
UChosePoorly
If we knew how much more Russian leadership cared about money and material possessions than their own people, we should have just started blowing up their mega yachts from jump.
Does Moscow even view Buryats, Dagestanis, and the countless other colonial subjects as Russians?
Antiquesaving
Is this article a joke?
The black fleet has over 80 ships, Ukraine claims to have "destroyed" 25 but a good number of those have been seen still around but damaged not destroyed, the vast majority of the ships destroyed were smaller vessels like tugboats etc...
This is an attempted to distract from reality.
Sinking a few ships is like V1 and V2 hitting London, makes for good propaganda but doesn't change the reality on the ground.
Why not report on the real important part of the war?
Avdiivka is now split in two, Russian has cut nearly all resupply roads into the town and is just a few hundred kilometers from full encirclement.
Russia is advancing on nearly all fronts, bother Ukrainian reports and Russian reports are saying Russia has amassed a very large force on the Zaporizhzhia front (those that don't know, the area of the Ukrainian failed summer offensive).
Mar'inka has fallen, Heorivka is now half taken,etc...
So one more ship destroyed, is that going to change anything on the ground at the front?
Russia gained more territory in 2023 than Ukraine did in it's vaunted summer offensive and since the beginning of January has taken even more and is doesn't look like that trend is about to stop.
Zaluzhnyi knew this and wanted to save men and equipment by a strategic withdrawal of Avdiivka.
But "fight to the last man" Bahkmut method Zelenski and Syrskyi instead poured in more troops including what western news called elite units (they omitted to use the name Azov when translating from the Ukrainian article) which by their own account got hit hard.
Now the main defenders are in danger of being fully encircled and cut off from supplies like in Maruipol another fight to the last man order from Zelenski.
Zaluzhnyi was Ukraine's best hope, Zelenski has no place in war he knows nothing and Syrskyi is a butcher of his own men.
lincolnman
"Russia reports today that one of its ships is missing - they swear it was not do to any military action by Ukraine, but say the Caesar Kunikov "hit a whale" and was disabled...it will soon be repaired and back in action...unfortunately all the crew are still missing"...
The West is getting invaluable intel and info on the weaknesses of all of Russia's military systems; ships, tanks, aircraft, missiles, and how to defeat them...
Any action by Putin against any NATO country would result in a slaughter of what's left of Russia's once vaunted military...the Kremlin knows this, so they fall back on the usual faux bombast and bluster...
Antiquesaving
Ok lets.
But lets also have a pool on a more important measurement of the war, which town or city will be next to fall into the hands of the Russians.
This is a great "distraction" article and it works judging by the comments here.
"Look look look over there we sank a ship, no no no don't look at the land battle look over there at the far away from the facts on the ground"
That is what this article is, an attempt to distract from the imminent loss of Avdiivka and the rest in the actual battlefield.
Kuku
Yes, Caesar probably sank. This may lead to the fact that Odessa, where the drones come from, will be demolished from the face of the earth. As adequate residents of Odessa say: it's okay, we'll build a new one.
Today, Ukrainians bombed Belgorod again. Civilians were bombed again. Children were bombed again. Let's see what the answer will be. The daily losses of the Ukrainian military now amount to thousands of soldiers, not only men but women military as well. As far as I know, yesterday the Russians gave the Ukrainians in Avdeevka an ultimatum to surrender during the day.
2020hindsights
Antiquesaving
And yet:
And it hurst Russia militarily as well:
HopeSpringsEternal
Every day that passes Ukraine's approaching failed state status. Black Sea ops do not solve their major and growing manpower and munition shortages in east. Ukraine will be forced to strategically retreat west,
Support's dropping inside and outside Ukraine, chaos building as they're unable to define their objectives.
Let's hope a workable peaceful compromise can happen soon, because US House 'blank check' is not in the mail.
JJE
This is a Ropucha-class landing ship - many built and many laid up which could be reactivated.
Secondly, Russia is not planning any amphibious landing operations (they were already successfully conducted in 2022).
Thirdly, it is of no consequence to supplies in the special military operation zone. All supplies are carried over the land bridge which is shorter!
The key takeaway is nothing changes at the front except a difficult situation becoming more pear shaped by the day.
Antiquesaving
Let's see if your professor is correct once things get going!
He forgot to mention that 99% of grain was shipped via land and only a single ship has left Ukraine!
Russia doesn't supply much by sea to Crimea it is by land,
I guess the recent missile attacks reported and you commented on didn't happen, right?
The destruction reported by even Ukraine of a staging ground with thousands of troops in Selydove located far behind the front was done by birds? No missiles!
It is interesting that Ukraine made this annoncent just after western news published this:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna138947
Reuters also reported the same as well as others!
The timing is interesting seeing this same ship was damaged last year and Ukraine initially claimed they sank it!
Pinpricks! No different than firing V2 at British targets.
It doesn't change the situation at the front!
Ukraine is sending paper armies to the front, calling something at half strength a brigade, etc.. doesn't make it so!
USA, UK and EU analysts are pointing out most Ukrainian units are at half strength or less but the Ukranian propaganda will say " we sent in XYZ unit, brigade etc.." omitting the fact they are at half strength, therefore not actually a brigade etc ...
I know facts certain people here don't like are all called "Russian" propaganda but when pro Ukrainian western news is saying it, when Deepstate ua. (Ukrainian government sanctioned site) is showing it on their maps, you cannot keep going on about Russian propaganda.
Look at the map for yourself or at least try to!
2020hindsights
Antiquesaving
You mean when Russia had cut off sea ports? Well, duh. Of course!
You said the same thing a few months ago, when Ukraine destroyed a Russian ship. It's getting old.
And it hurt Russia militarily as well:
Russia is hurting in the Black Sea and it means they have to hide their ships. The can't control the grain corridor. So not even close to equivalent.
lincolnman
Keep up with the weak deflection and fantasy tales...Ukraine, with no significant Navy, is sending Russia's major combatant ships to the bottom of the Black Sea with relative ease...
And notice these weak deflection attempts make no mention of the Russian sailors that went down with their ships - typical Russian disregard for their own forces, as we see with their failed "mass wave" attacks that just result in piles of Russian bodies...
After losing their flagship Moskva two years ago, you'd think the Russian Navy would have adapted and successfully defended against further attacks....nope.
That's just one reason Putin's blunder of an invasion will fail...and he'll likely find his way out of an eighth story window...
Antiquesaving
Does any of what you say change the situation on the ground at the front?
Will the sinking of one landing ship (remember that it is not a battleship but a landing ship) change the situation that Avdiivka is now basically cut off Mar'inka has fallen, Heorivka is about to fall, Ukraine is reporting a massive amounts of Russian troops built up on the Zaporizhzhia front and that all reports are saying Ukrainian units are a nearly half strength.
Will the sinking of this ship change any off the above?
2020hindsights
Antiquesaving
2020hindsights
Have a look at those towns on a map and contrast it with Russia's aims of taking all the Donbas and Odesa.
Not even close. And the cost in men and machinery for Avdiivka alone isn't even close to being worth it. If I was to give a fair assessment of Avdiivka, I would say it was Russia's biggest failure in the war to date.
Antiquesaving
Ask yourself this simple question:
If Ukraine loses the land battle and Russia takes territory possibly advancing all the way to Odessa will the above you wrote be of any importance?
My view is no!
If Ukraine loses its southern territory and access to the black sea, then Russia wins and it can return to rebuilding the fleet to full strength.
Again pinpricks that change nothing at the front, where Ukraine is losing territory daily!
UChosePoorly
AntiqueSavings- what about you, what is your guess as to the next member of the ever-shrinking BSF to be sent to eternity? Bonus points if you can guess the method by which it is destroyed!
2020hindsights
Antiquesaving
Russia is hurting in the Black Sea and it means they have to hide their ships. The can't control the grain corridor. So not even close to equivalent.
Have you seen the maps. Russia has no chance to get Odesa.
Zoom out and see what pinpricks Avdiivka, a city of 30,000 before it was rubble means and how Russia have been fighting since October last year to get it. They lost 10% of their tanks etc. and many, many thousands of men.
Talk about pinpricks.
Antiquesaving
I guess you like only the news you want to believe.
Avdiivka is a strategic place for Ukraine, thus why they had so much invested in it!
Look at the map if you really did!
Donetsk is right next to it and it was the main point of attack on Donetsk a major city under Russian control.
Avdiivka is also the last major defendable position for a wide area, if it falls a large portion of Ukrainian territory is open to Russia without good defendable locations.
As for losses, even the USA and UK are saying Ukraine has lost far more troops trying to hold Avdiivka than Russia has taking it!
Not me saying this but Ukrainian allies.
The reason Zelenski refused to let Zaluzhnyi pull back from Avdiivka is because it meant pulling way way back to the next place far behind the lines that Ukraine can defend with any possibility of holding which is Kostiantynivka and would mean a huge loss of territory.
Instead Zelenski ordered more men into the avdiivka meat grinder and fire Zaluzhnyi.
I don't care about which side is right or wrong!
I point out the facts that Soo many here refuse to even look at!
2020hindsights
Antiquesaving
Three words: high. own supply.
No they aren't. And it's not by a long shot. Russia are losing way more men and machinery than Ukraine in Avdiivka.
Yeah, but they aren't saying that.
lincolnman
Really? So where is Avdeeka mentioned in the article above?
Pure weak deflection....you should be more like the Kremlin spokesman..."Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the Ukrainian claims, and the Russian defense ministry remained equally silent".... Less humiliating that way...
Then he better borrow some from his buddy Kim, to ensure they won't blow up on the pad...
2020hindsights
Ramsey's Kitchen
Nope. And definitely not worth the massive loss of Russia troops and equipment.
Kuku
On Avdeevka. 7,000 Ukrainians are locked up in Avdeevka. Russians has engaged the main forces with a large number of armored vehicles and tanks.
Before that, a massive fire attack was carried out on enemy positions in Avdeevka and the surrounding area.
The task is to have Avdeevka completely surrounded before morning(it's still night in ukr). The AFU is trying to escape through the fields. Aviation and artillery work on them.
But even if they had to leave without being shelled, the chances of leaving would be minimal.
A large number of seriously wounded military personnel stay in the town.
Antiquesaving
My guess isn't a ship, it is Avdiivka which the Ukrainians according to the USA have lost more men and equipment than Russia.
It will fall, next Heorivka, probably followed by Ivanivske and Chavi yard.
But hey that could all change if as Ukraine is worried about The massive Russian buildup in Zaporizhzhia turn into a full scale attack!
You should try looking at proper reports from the war and not only what you want to hear.
I suggest suriyak maps q neutral report or Deep state ua a pro Ukrainian one.
2020hindsights
Antiquesaving
Nope. Not even close.
Kuku
The ex-commander of the banned Aidar, Dikii, said that Avdiivka would fall in the next 48 hours. We don't feel sorry. For the children killed yesterday in Belgorod
lincolnman
Wow, even Putin's stooge mouthpiece can't muster up a good "maskirovka" talking point about this Russian military failure and disaster...
He better get with it - or Putin will replace him with Tucker Carlson...
Antiquesaving
I did a quick calculation of all the tanks and troops Ukraine claims to have destroyed or killed from the start to today in Avdiivka.
And if true they have destroyed more tanks than western analysts and the USA government said Russia had in stock!
Amazing I guess Russia now has a minus inventory of tanks!
It always amazes me how people are so willing to swallow the propaganda from the side they support.
This goes equally for the pro Russians that make up just as main fanciful claims.
RichardPearce
Last year at this time we were being assured that the combination of 'sanctions' against Russia, a massive resupply of Western armor, weapons, ammunition, training, and cash, and the Azov regime instituting a universal draft (with all the corruption successfully purged so it would actually be universal would result in a spring and summer of the frontline moving east, and an autumn of Putin begging to be allowed to surrender.
Now, it is a 'major victory' that the frontline is only slowly heading further west, that, as soon as we build it, some Western armor that was lost this year will be replaced, as soon as we make it, some Western ammunition will be shipped in to keep Zelensky's guns firing occasionally, we'll be training the survivors of the spring...oops summer offensive on how to retake ground under a new commander because Zelensky got worried the old one was going to replace him instead.
Next year will see the Azov regime expanding for sure. After all, the third time's the cgarm
Kuku
In his evening addressing to the nation, Zelensky did not say a word about the terrorist attack of the AFU on Belgorod, about killed children and bypassed the topic of Avdeevka — instead, he gave instructions to deal with Ukrainian grain scattered during strikes in Poland. To the point the address was taken again in the train carriage. Does anyone know where he is going again? Maybe he decided to run away:)
UChosePoorly
RK and AS - if Avdiivka does fall, which is still very much in doubt, I have no worries that Ukraine will liberate it.
UChosePoorly
No guesses as to which ship is going to get it next? (And soon!)
UChosePoorly
https://twitter.com/i/status/1757919262889685150
RK - that is unfortunate of course, but my sympathies lie with Ukraine as the victim, not with Russia as the invader. I only have so much sympathy these days, and it doesn't go to those who would FAFO.
lincolnman
Thanks - I thought it was spot-on and pretty accurate too..
UChosePoorly
It's ok for those who are neutral, not supporters of Russia to still have fun with the BSF dead pool. Lighten up guys! Nobody here wants Russia to win.
UChosePoorly
Wait. Does anyone here want Russia to win?
UChosePoorly
https://twitter.com/i/status/1757868996408275298
Winning.
JJE
I do. And they are winning.
UChosePoorly
Thanks for coming clean after a long spell of neutrality, JJE. I appreciate it.
UChosePoorly
Surely there are others here who want Russia to defeat Ukraine?
lincolnman
You know, like this one...
Five scientists were killed and radiation spiked in a nearby city following the blast at an offshore platform in the Russian Arctic last Thursday.
Authorities have drip-fed details of the incident to the public. But Monday, Vyacheslav Solovyov, scientific director of the Russian Federal Nuclear Center, confirmed that at the time of the blast, nuclear scientists at the Nyonoksa military range were working on "small-sized energy sources using radioactive fissile materials."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russian-failed-nuclear-test-hints-putin-s-dangerous-plans-beat-n1041721
One wonders which is more potentially fatal - being a sailor on a Russian ship in the Black Sea or a Russian missile crew-member at a launch site...
UChosePoorly
Yikes, we don't want to slaughter anyone, even Russians. Much better if we can do it peacefully like we did the USSR or CCCP or whatever it was called back then.
UChosePoorly
Russia will always be with us, just maybe not in its present form.
JJE
Agreed. Russia will become larger and Ukraine will become smaller - geographically, demographically and economically.
Kuku
lincolnmanToday 12:20 pm JST
You know, like this one...
How many disasters have happened since "last Thursday" 2019 :) How many trains have derailed in the USA, as trains derail from American rails almost every day