Putin's fleet in the Black Sea is showing weakness. Ukrainian drones have caused serious damage to the ships. Now there is an even greater threat: the Ukrainians' Neptune missiles.
Kiev – Things are not going well with Vladimir Putin's fleet in the Black Sea. Ukrainian drones had repeatedly caused severe damage to Russian ships off the Crimean peninsula. Now the danger for the Russian warships in the Ukraine war seems even greater. The Ukrainian army's Neptune rockets are getting a lot of supplies. And the range of anti-ship missiles should also be significantly increased.
Jane Harman, Mara Rudman and Roger Zakheim, who sit on a US Congressional committee on national defense strategy, even assume that Neptune rocket production will increase tenfold. “Next year, Neptune will increase its range to up to 1,000 kilometers, opening the way to targets deep in Russia,” they noted in a report on
Real Clear Politics
.
Will the Neptune missile soon be used against Russian land targets?
The supplies would come in handy for Ukraine. The British-French Storm Shadow cruise missiles are slowly becoming scarce, as
Newsweek
reports. Kiev also urgently needs other missiles, such as the Americans' short-range ballistic missiles. The Neptun anti-ship missile was developed primarily - as the name suggests - for the defense of the Ukrainian coast. But land targets could also be targeted with the rocket.
According to Oleksiy Danilov, a former member of the Ukrainian Defense Council, hinted that a land version of the Neptune missile could also be coming. He commented on the success of a “new, completely modern” missile that worked “perfectly” when a Russian air defense system on the western Crimean peninsula was disabled in August.
Two Ukrainian Neptune missiles sank Putin's flagship
The most prominent target of the Neptune rocket so far was the “Moskva”. The Russian guided missile cruiser was the largest ship in Putin's navy in the Black Sea. After two Neptune rockets hit the ship, there was a fire and explosion on board the warship. The Russian Navy tried to tow the ship, but was no longer able to reach the naval base in Sevastopol - the “Moskva” sank off the Crimean coast.
And ships cannot be replaced quickly. Due to Western sanctions, Russian shipyards are already having major problems meeting demand. Even Russian fishing is struggling under the restrictions. Only 22 of 105 planned fishing boats could be built, as Ilya Shestakov, head of the Russian Fisheries Agency, announced last week. That is why Putin said in a statement that he wanted to particularly promote the development of production capacities of companies engaged in the construction and repair of ships.
Even if there are still loopholes in the West's sanctions, this example shows that Western sanctions are certainly useful in weakening the Russian economy and thus also hitting the war industry where Western technology is absolutely needed.
(SiSchr)