A Ukrainian naval commander mentioned it is going to take extra than simply drones to defeat Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
Oleksii Neizhpapa, Commander of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, made the assertion in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda.
“Merely altering the fleet to drones and successful is not going to work,” he mentioned, in line with a translation supplied by the outlet.
Ukraine carried out a sequence of profitable drone assaults on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in 2023, with its explosive sea drones sinking two Russian touchdown ships on November 10, “Sea Child” drones damaging a Russian patrol ship close to Sevastopol on October 11, and high-tech naval drones paralyzing the fleet on August 24.
The assaults compelled Russia to relocate components of its navy from the Crimean port metropolis of Sevastopol to the port metropolis of Novorossiysk in western Russia in October, the Institute for the Research of Struggle mentioned on the time, citing satellite tv for pc imagery.
The assaults additionally induced Russia to lose a fifth of its fleet in simply 4 months, the UK Defence Secretary mentioned in late December.
Nonetheless, Neizhpapa mentioned that the expertise behind Russia’s drones is getting higher.
“The enemy can also be studying; they’ve a strong industrial complicated, and the Russians by no means scrimped cash on weapons. Due to this fact, very tough drone wars are forward of us,” he mentioned.
Consequently, Neizhpapa mentioned, the kind of assaults Ukraine launched at sea in 2022 and 2023 will not be as efficient in 2024.
He additionally cited drones’ dimension, armament, and climate resistance, which do not match these of ships.
“Sure, drones are one other option to defeat the Russians. I agree with this; it really works. However there’s a sure limitation in using these means,” Neizhpapa advised Ukrainska Pravda.
“You’ll be able to declare a territory as yours solely when the boot of your soldier or a marine stands on it. Then that is your territory,” he added. “The identical is true at sea. When you could have a ship standing in these territorial waters, and nobody can do something about it, solely then it’s your sea.”
