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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
In the night of 12 August, the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out a large-scale combined attack on the naval base in Novorossiysk — the last major stronghold of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. Who participated in the operation, which the Ukrainian president called unique, what were its results, how did Russia react, and why (again) are Z-bloggers dissatisfied — in the material by GORDON.
Massive Ukrainian strike on Novorossiysk: details
Monitoring Telegram channels called the Novorossiysk attack one of the largest the city has experienced. The governor of Krasnodar Krai of Russia, Veniamin Kondratyev, said that the region was attacked by “several hundred drones.” According to him, Novorossiysk, Anapa, Gelendzhik, and Temryuk district were hit.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Ukrainian cruise drones, missiles, and sea drones accurately hit designated targets; strikes on air defense positions, berths, and infrastructure of the port were confirmed.
“Our Armed Forces conducted a unique operation to strike the naval base in Novorossiysk — the last major stronghold of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, more than 300 km from the front line... For the first time in one operation, the coordination of Pancake, Hell, Bars and Long Neptune, as well as drones MICH, Fire Point, Ramzan, Sich, Trust, Kharyok, Beaver, February, Dovbus, and the BEK Sargan and Mamai, was achieved,” emphasized the president.
The operation was conducted jointly by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR), the State Border Service, the Naval Forces, and other components of the defense forces.
Russian authorities stated that as a result of the attack in Krasnodar Krai there were civilian casualties: four people were killed, including an eight-year-old child, 24 people were injured. In Novorossiysk, after the attack, a state of emergency was introduced; about 60 residential buildings were damaged. Official briefings, as usual, do not specify how many people were actually affected by the Russian air defenses’ actions, and military losses are also concealed.
Results of the operation
Destruction of military ships
Estimates of how many ships were hit varied. The General Staff reported four: according to preliminary information, two frigates Admiral Makarov and Admiral Essen, a small missile ship Buyan-M, and the patrol vessel Vasily Bykov sustained damage.
The SBU confirmed damage to only three ships — both frigates and the patrol vessel.
In addition to ships, according to SBU, the base’s air defense (radars as part of the C-300 system and a mobile fire group), the entrance to the oil terminal tunnel (Shesharis terminal), and infrastructure of several berths were hit.
OSINT analysts are less cautious in their assessments: according to satellite image analysis published by Exilenova+ projects and CyberFlour, at least seven vessels may have been hit at the base.
Operations halted at one of Russia’s key oil terminals...
According to Reuters, crude oil exports from the Shesharis terminal in the Novorossiysk port were completely halted after the attack. The agency notes that the terminal is a key platform for exporting Russian oil in the Black Sea, and disruptions to its operation lead to significant interruptions in one of Russia’s main export directions.
...and immediately three grain terminals
On the day of the attack, media reported the stopping of the Novorossiysk Bread Products Plant and the Novorossiysk Grain Terminal. 13 August it became known that the third and final large terminal, KSK, had also ceased operations. These three terminals accounted for more than half of Russia’s wheat exports.
Thus, the Novorossiysk attack was a successful blow to one of the aggressor’s main economic arteries, notes columnist Sergei Misyura.
“Redirecting agricultural exports to the Baltic states is physically impossible for the Russians. In the domestic wheat market, panic has already begun... According to the Russian Exporters Association of Grain, if the Black Sea and Azov Sea are completely blocked, Russia will fail to supply the world market with 30–35 million tons of wheat out of 61 million tons planned for export. In other words, Russia loses more than half of its export potential. Reactions from major media, analysts, and farmer associations boil down to the fact that farmers are on the brink of bankruptcy and will not have funds to finance the next sowing campaign,” he wrote.
The analyst also drew attention to the complexity of coordinating an attack that involved almost all services and key units of the defense forces, with many missiles and drones of various types deployed.
“And all this, at different speeds, routes, and times of strike delivery, reached its targets in the Novorossiysk region within two hours! This is a much larger and bigger operation than the ‘Web’ and the attack on Moscow! Incredible coordination and use of all available means,” emphasized Misyura.
Reaction of the occupiers
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Russia’s Investigative Committee qualified the attack as a “terrorist act,” and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that strikes on Novorossiysk’s grain infrastructure “increase the deficit of grain and fertilizers and stimulate world food prices” in the interests of certain “Western curators.” Based on this logic, Russia, which continues to attack Ukrainian ports and blocked exports, presumably answers to the same curators.
Putin did not directly comment on this attack, but on 13 August he spoke of the need to support the “readiness of the armed forces and the fleet.”
As always, Z-bloggers proved braver than Russia’s illegitimate president and posed the question: where should this fleet go to remain combat-capable or at least afloat?
“The main question is where the Black Sea Fleet can flee after moving ships from Crimea to Novorossiysk, when they are already being attacked there regularly,” asks the big Z-channel “Military Informant.”
And the propagandist Alex Parker Returns did not shy away from stating: “Probably, the Novorossiysk fleet has little time left to base itself. Sevastopol has already been demilitarized by the Ukrainians, now it’s Novorossiysk’s turn. Pip, results.”
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item ""Куди тепер тікати Чорноморському флоту?" Що відомо про атаку на Новоросійськ і чому вона "масштабніша за "Павутину"". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Gordon.
