According to information published by Tass on August 1, 2022, Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has gained supremacy in the Sea of Azov and established control of the northwestern part of the Black Sea as a result of its activities in the special military operation in Ukraine.
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Russian Navy's Ropucha class Korolev and Kaliningrad at right during naval drills in Crimea. (Picture source: Russian MoD)
In contemporary Russia, Navy Day is celebrated on the last Sunday of July in accordance with a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 31, 2006.
Ukraine lies on the Black Sea, which has ocean access only through the Turkish-held Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits. On 28 February, Turkey invoked the 1936 Montreux Convention and sealed off the straits to Russian warships not registered to Black Sea home bases and not returning to their ports of origin. This prevented the passage of four Russian naval vessels through the Turkish Straits in late February.
Russia stated on 26 February that US drones supplied intelligence to the Ukrainian navy to help target Russian warships in the Black Sea, which the US denied.
By 3 March, the Ukrainian frigate Hetman Sahaidachny, the flagship of the Ukrainian navy, was scuttled in Mykolaiv to prevent its capture by Russian forces.
On 14 March, the Russian source RT reported that the Russian Armed Forces had captured about a dozen Ukrainian ships in Berdiansk, including the Polnocny-class landing ship Yuri Olefirenko.
Russia plans to extend its Mykolayiv–Odesa front after the siege of Mariupol further west to include the breakaway region of Transnistria on the Ukrainian border with Moldova. Ukraine from Odesa to Transnistria would transform it into a landlocked nation without any practical access to the Black Sea.
