Russia Scrambles to Defend Key Ports after 'Combined Assault' in Black Sea

Russia has quietly begun to take defensive measures to protect its navy and key strategic hubs in the Black Sea basin after a series of attacks on ports in Crimea and Novorossiysk, one of which appears to have damaged a Russian landing ship.

While the Russian Defense Ministry insisted that "all attacks were successfully thwarted," videos and images shared on social media on Friday appeared to show the Olenegorsky Gornyak, an amphibious assault ship, tilting heavily as it was towed by emergency response vessels.

The latest attacks—dubbed a "combined assault" by Russian war bloggers because of its wide geography, scope and variety of weapons deployed—raises serious questions about Moscow's ability to defend its Black Sea fleet and ports.

The aquatic drone strike that left a "serious hole" on the side of Olenegorsky Gornyak, according to Ukrainian sources, marks the culmination of a series of attacks targeting Russian infrastructure in Crimea and along the Black Sea coast in recent days.

While Friday's incident was only the second Ukrainian drone attack on targets in Novorossiysk since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, its significance is hard to overstate—or for the Kremlin to deny.

The Olenegorsky Gornyak, a Ropucha class landing ship, was the eighth Russian vessel to have come under attack since the war began. At least three of those—including the fleet's flagship Moskva battle cruiser—were reported to have been sunk, according to Verstka, an independent Russian investigative outlet.

Numerous video clips of the assault, including one purportedly filmed by the aquatic drone itself, provided further embarrassment to the Russian defense officials, arriving shortly after an official statement was issued claiming the attacks were successfully thwarted by the Olenegorsky Gornyak crew.

Around the same time as the Novorossiysk attacks, at 4 a.m. local time, explosions and gunfire were also reported in nearby Theodosia, a coastal town in the occupied Crimea peninsula.

Russia authorities issued a statement claiming that out of, allegedly, 13 Ukrainian drones targeting the peninsula overnight, 10 were shot down by Russian defense systems and three were deactivated by electronic "drone jammers."

Assurances by officials that the region was secure did little to dispel Russians' fears, as prominent pro-war bloggers raised questions about the country's defensive capabilities.

Rybar, a Kremlin-linked military blogger, posted a map of overnight activity by Russian air defenses, which showed at least 10 locations that were targeted in what the blogger termed Ukraine's "combined assault in the Black Sea basin."

"The attack on Theodosia is no coincidence. This town has a number of large oil reservoirs (the locations where the UAVs hit the ground offer indirect evidence that they were indeed the targets). A major electric power station that serves as a key hub for Crimea's electricity grid, is also located there," Rybar wrote.

Rybar also appeared to question the ship's defenses, speculating that "the crew, perhaps, did not expect an attack and thus did not attempt to destroy the approaching drone." He also called on the Russian navy to install "naval machine guns" on non-combat vessels.

In a separate post, the blogger also claimed that the "combined attack" was preceded by days of "complex" reconnaissance activity by NATO drones, including the RQ-4D Phoenix and two U.S.-made MQ-9A Reaper drones.

Newsweek could not independently verify the claim, or whether this purported activity was in any way connected to the strikes.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries and NATO for comment.

Russian authorities and Moscow-installed local officials scrambled to contain the damage from the latest attacks, with several emergency vessels deployed to tow the listing vessel back to the port.

A temporary travel embargo for all marine vessels was introduced in the Novorossiysk port, but was lifted later on Friday afternoon, according to Tass, the state media news outlet. The Kaspian Pipeline Consortium, the holding company for the oil pipeline network, said the hub had not sustained any damage in the attacks.

Security measures were also ramped up in Sochi, a major Black Sea tourist resort and trading port, according to a statement by the city's mayor Aleksey Kopaigorodsky, with a "special focus" on the port's complex mooring network.

Amid these developments, Ukrainian officials claimed that a large Russian naval group was deployed in the Black Sea, possibly as a sign that it was planning provocations in the region.

Ukrainian Navy Chief Dmitry Pletenchu recently questioned Russia's capacity to bolster its Black Sea fleet with vessels stationed in other regions, such as the Baltic and Caspian seas, because of "geopolitical complications," including Turkey's decision to close the Bosphorus for military vessels.

Speaking to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Pletenchu conceded that Russia may yet attempt to redeploy its Baltic-stationed corvettes and frigates to Crimea and the Black Sea via a system of canals and rivers, including the Volga.

Still, the latest incident raises serious questions about the security of Russian assets and ships in the port that was previously seen as a "safe harbor" for Russia's navy.

In September, Moscow was reportedly forced to relocate its Kilo-class submarines from Novorossiysk to Crimea after a series of naval attacks. At the time, the British Defense Ministry assessed the move as a sign that Moscow was alarmed by the "increased Ukrainian long-range strike capability."