On the night of April 24, another batch of Ukrainian naval drones was destroyedIntense shooting from automatic weapons off the coast of the Gagarin district of Sevastopol between 3 and 4 a.m. on Monday, April 24, was twice interrupted by strong explosions.
Soon, a message appeared on the information resources of the city administration that the Black Sea Fleet (Black Sea Fleet) The Russian Navy "is now repelling an attack by surface drones on an external raid." Later, Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev clarified: one surface drone was destroyed by the anti-submarine sabotage support forces, and "the second exploded itself." The originally used wording "no objects were damaged" was soon replaced by another one: "no buildings, mooring and other structures were destroyed." The blast knocked out the glazing in dilapidated and unfinished buildings on the coast, and people were not injured.
Closer to lunchtime, a clarification came: "The drone did not enter Steletskaya Bay." Further explanation is published: "The outer roadstead of Sevastopol is the water area bounded by the meridian of Cape Chersonesos, the parallel of the mouth of the Kacha River and the coastline to the borders of the inner roadstead." According to the administration, it turns out that at the time of the defeat of the Black Sea sailors by fire, the drones were near the barrier set up at the entrance to the bay, "and this is an external raid."
Speaking to reporters at a regular daily briefing in the second half of April 24, the official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Igor Kanashenkov, clarified: the attack on Sevastopol was carried out by the forces of three "unmanned high-speed boats."
On that day, warships, boats, auxiliary vessels and aircraft of the Black Sea Fleet showed increased activity. Apparently, the crews were trying to detect and eliminate the artifacts of the night attack.
But residents who, out of habit, hurried to cross the Sevastopol Bay by sea tram on Monday morning, were offered to use land transport because of the EITI events.
The topic of a permanent ferry connecting the city center with the North Side is quite acute. The section of the coast, where the main urban development is located, is cut by numerous bays, which makes it difficult for automobile communication between the districts of Sevastopol that are remote from each other. In 2019, the authorities ordered five new passenger boats for communication with the Northern Side, issuing the industry a contract worth 2.3 billion rubles. However, the delivery scheduled for 2021-2022 has been postponed indefinitely. The reason is the inability of shipyards to purchase the necessary components abroad. The missing equipment will have to be manufactured at local facilities. The Russian government's 2017 plan to build five hydrofoils of the "Comet 120M" type for Crimea has not yet been implemented – only two are ready.
But back to the drones: the attack on April 24 was the second in the spring. The first raid happened a month earlier. On the night of March 22, unmanned vehicles were able to penetrate into Sevastopol Bay, but at the entrance to Yuzhnaya they were destroyed by fire from the shore and ships. Later that day, at the Board of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on 22, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the Ukrainian side had made another attempt to undermine the ships of the Black Sea Fleet. He gave details of the attack: three marine unmanned vehicles participated in it. When trying to enter Yuzhnaya Bay, the unmanned boats were discovered by the crew on duty and hit the targets with fire from automatic weapons. Residents of Sevastopol heard three explosions, the detonation damaged the glazing of houses on Lenin Street.
In the spring, there were also cases of air defense systems operating on unmanned aerial vehicles and ballistic missiles of the operational-tactical class of the "Thunder" type. All this was confirmed in the daily reports of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
In turn, the Information Support Department of the Black Sea Fleet on April 18 issued a message that the sea minesweeper "Ivan Golubets" has started performing tasks in one of the sea ranges of the Black Sea.
The document contains the following words: "The crew searched for mines in the designated maritime area using various types of contact and non-contact trawls. Together with working out tasks for their intended purpose, the sailors conducted shipboard exercises on the fight for survivability, anti-aircraft and anti-sabotage defense of the ship at sea crossing and when parked on an unprotected roadstead."
Recall that "Ivan Golubets" is the only one from the Black Sea Fleet that was damaged in the attack of marine drones on October 29, 2022. In any case, so says the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, all other attacks from the sea carried out by the Ukrainian side on Sevastopol for the entire time did not cause any damage to the naval personnel of the Russian Navy.
Kiev's claims about the alleged bombing of the Admiral Makarov or "another frigate of Project 11356R" have not been confirmed. Photos of the parking of ships of this type in the Southern Bay, distributed by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on October 30, clearly showed that the Makarov and its neighboring matelots had no visible damage.
Until now, the October events are being held as the largest-scale attack by Ukrainian naval drones since the beginning of the SVO. To repel it, then it was necessary to use not only coastal forces and ships, but also aviation. Then the military managed to destroy four enemy vehicles on the outer raid of Sevastopol and three more on the inner one.
Over the following months, residents of the city could observe with their own eyes the exits to the sea and the return to Sevastopol Bay of the frigates of the Russian Navy. This indicates that they were not disabled by Ukrainian drones.
Together with the most modern frigates of Project 11356R on the Black Sea, the older one in this class, the "Ladny" of Project 1135, also operates. Note that its official classification is a guard ship. The Information Support Department of the Black Sea Fleet, in a message dated April 18, claims that during the exercises in the Black Sea, the crew of the patrol ship "worked out the organization of the use of weapons and electronic warfare (EW) equipment during combat with an enemy surface ship."
In addition, the report says that "the sailors conducted artillery firing on air targets, worked out the use of electronic warfare to repel enemy missile strikes, and also conducted training in the fight for survivability on the ship's course."
Among other interesting news of the spring is the participation of the diesel–electric submarine (DPL) "Alrosa" in the exercises of the Black Sea Fleet. For the first time, this was stated in the message of the naval press service on April 6. It became the first official confirmation of the fact of restoring the combat readiness of the only Project 877V submarine in the fleet.
"Alrosa" was built in the last years of the USSR and at one time remained the only combat-ready DPL on the Black Sea. In the summer of 2014, the submarine was put under repair at the 13th ship repair plant in Sevastopol. After being placed in dry dock, the admirals decided to strengthen the ship's armament with the Kalibr-PL missile system.
Due to the wide range of work performed, Alrosa was able to go to sea again only last summer. Since then, it has been undergoing comprehensive tests before being finally incorporated into the active forces. "In one of the sea ranges in the Black Sea, submariners performed a deep–sea dive, worked out algorithms for ship control and the use of weapons at various depths, as well as various methods of surfacing," the naval press service said. The development of course tasks was accompanied by the execution of firing from torpedo tubes at underwater and surface targets. Currently, the next stage is underway, during which the setting of minefields and actions to evade anti-submarine aircraft are being worked out.
Against this background, reports are coming from the frontline regions of the Russian Federation about the cancellation of mass events next month. "The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has decided not to hold a parade on May 9 in Sevastopol," the governor said with reference to the commander of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy, Vice Admiral Viktor Sokolov. Municipal authorities are also reviewing plans. "There will also be no festive procession on May 1," Razvozhaev continued. In order to avoid large crowds, it is proposed to hold events "in parks, squares and institutions." For his part, the head of the Crimea Sergey Aksenov announced that this year the authorities of the peninsula decided not to hold a march of the Immortal Regiment.
Planned in line with the May celebrations, the opening of the Heroes of the Special Military Operation Square was held in advance – on April 22. It is located in the area of Victory Park, near the building of the Black Sea Higher Naval School. Nakhimov. The decision to rename (previously – "Cadets Square") was made at the request of wives and mothers of servicemen. Since March last year, about 120 young trees have been planted in the park in honor of the fallen participants of the SVO. Only on April 22, about fifty seedlings were added, all in memory of specific fallen soldiers.
According to the promises of the head of the Republic of Crimea, the construction of defensive structures on the peninsula and the approaches to it will be completed by May. Aksenov said that the principled decision made last year turned out to be correct and justified. "This does not mean that fortifications will necessarily be used for their intended purpose. However, you should not underestimate the enemy. We are obliged to prepare for any development of events, and we have done it," he explained.
Talking to journalists on April 18, Aksenov said that all tasks to repel potential enemy attacks on Crimea are being solved. "There are enough forces and means for the security of the peninsula," the governor believes.
Along the line of countering the spread of deliberately false reports by the accomplices of the Kiev regime about the alleged offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, followed by the issuance of fake "evacuation alerts to residents", local authorities held a number of events. Thus, on April 19, the broadcast of all TV programs was temporarily stopped in order to carry out preventive work on the objects of broadcasting to prevent "communication hacking and sabotage". H
Vladimir Karnozov
