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What happened? Ukraine suddenly announced that the last ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet had left Crimea. If this is true, the Black Sea Fleet's home port may have become an empty port. So what is going on? This may be related to Ukraine's successful tactical operation of unmanned boats at sea.

Last Russian warship leaves Crimea, according to Ukraine

According to Reuters, earlier this month, Ukrainian Navy Commander Lieutenant General Nezhpapa said that after a long period of targeted strikes and drone raids, Russia was forced to withdraw almost all combat warships from Crimea.

At the same time, a Ukrainian Navy spokesman posted on social media: "The last frigate of the Black Sea Fleet has just been evacuated from our Crimea. Remember this day."

In order to prove that what he said was true, the spokesman of the Ukrainian Navy made a special explanation: the last Russian ship to evacuate from Crimea belonged to the "Storm Petrel class". It is said that this type of warship is 123 meters long, 14 meters wide, and has a displacement of 3,500 tons. It is an anti-submarine frigate from the former Soviet era. It was put into service in 1970. There are still four such ships still in service.

Russia has not responded to Ukraine's claims so far. But if this is true, as Ukraine said, the last Russian warship has really withdrawn from Crimea, which means that the Black Sea Fleet's home port has now become an empty port. So what happened in the meantime?

In the final analysis, it is related to the attack of Ukrainian unmanned boats at sea. Speaking of Ukrainian unmanned ships, it is really a pain point for the Russian Navy. At the beginning of the war between Russia and Ukraine, the Ukrainian Navy was completely annihilated, and the Russian Black Sea Fleet captured Snake Island, gaining control of the sea near Ukraine in one fell swoop. At first, in order to prevent the Black Sea Fleet from amphibiously landing in Odessa from the sea, Ukraine even deployed chain mines to directly protect the coast near Odessa.

However, with the sinking of the cruiser "Moscow", the start of the second phase of the Donbass operation by the Russian army, and the recovery of Snake Island by Ukraine, Ukraine has gained a respite in dealing with the Russian maritime threat. However, the Black Sea Fleet is active in the waters near Ukraine after all, which has always been a thorn in Kiev's side. In order to attack the Black Sea Fleet, Ukraine designed a low-cost, small-sized unmanned boat, which was then deployed to the Black Sea for combat. Relying on semi-submersible marching cover and "wolf pack" tactics, the Black Sea Fleet suffered heavy losses. In addition to frequent attacks on ships at sea, unmanned boats even frequently attacked the Black Sea Fleet's home port, making it difficult for the Russian army to defend against them.

Ukraine wins the Black Sea naval battle using unmanned ships

Earlier, Ukraine had made a statistics that the frequent attacks by unmanned boats had caused the Black Sea Fleet to lose one-third of its strength.

According to conventional logic, the Russian army would certainly not remain indifferent in such a situation. A Ukrainian officer once said that the Russian army has a strong ability to adapt to the battlefield and can often crack the Ukrainian army's new weapons and new tactics. But when it comes to unmanned ships, the Black Sea Fleet seems to be at its wits' end, and news of attacks has been coming out continuously.

As for the Russian Navy's withdrawal from Crimea, in fact, similar signs appeared last year. Due to the attack of Ukrainian unmanned boats, the Black Sea Fleet was directly split into two. In addition to staying in the home port in Crimea, the other part withdrew to Novorossiysk on the mainland. Later, there was even news that Russia was trying to build a new military port in Abkhazia.

The reason for withdrawing the fleet from Crimea is mainly to stay away from the Ukrainian coast. Although unmanned boats are difficult to defend, their range is limited. Withdrawing to the Russian mainland will pose a great challenge to unmanned boats that want to launch a sneak attack. However, this also indicates that Russia has given up its control of the sea near Ukraine and Crimea.

The Russian Black Sea Fleet has indeed suffered heavy losses in the past two years

Although Ukraine's unmanned boat tactics have achieved great success and won the Black Sea naval battle, Reuters said: Ukraine is also choosing to promote itself in a way that is beneficial to itself. This does not mean that Ukraine has gained sea control because it does not have large warships. Moreover, the Ukrainian army is still facing a clearly unfavorable situation on the eastern front because it lacks people and ammunition.