Afraid of Ukrainian Armed Forces strikes: Russian fleet “behaves strangely” in Novorossiysk port, – media

Afraid of strikes by the Ukrainian Armed Forces: the Russian fleet is “behaving strangely” in the port of Novorossiysk, – media Vladislav Kravtsov

Russian ships are behaving strangely at the naval base in Novorossiysk. Dozens of ships left the port and then returned there again.

This is reported by Channel 24 with reference to the publication Business Insider. Journalists also published satellite images showing the movements of enemy ships.

Why did the Russians move their fleet from Novorossiysk and return it back

The publication wrote that the satellite images obtained show that Russia partially or completely withdrew its ships from Novorossiysk for a short period of time.

Currently, these redeployments are not associated with anything specific, but journalists suggest that this may be related to the strikes by the Ukrainian military on the Black Sea Fleet of the aggressor country, which had previously been located in Sevastopol, in the temporarily occupied Crimea.

The BlackSky company, which took the corresponding satellite images, noted that there are usually more than 50 vessels in Novorossiysk. These include surface combat ships and submarines, as well as auxiliary vessels and tugs.

The first signs of “strange behavior” of the enemy fleet were recorded in September of this year. At that time, enemy military vessels briefly left the Novorossiysk port and then returned. According to BlackSky, there have been three such cases so far, all of which showed partial and complete withdrawal of ships from the naval base.

Thus, in the photo from September 2, you can see how the Black Sea Fleet is actively leaving the port of Novorossiysk. Then more than two dozen ships left the port for the harbor.

More than 20 Russian ships left the port of Novorossiysk on September 2/Photo BlackSky

Similar actions took place on September 11. Then, out of the entire fleet in the port of Novorossiysk, only 7 enemy ships remained.

On September 11, only 7 ships remained in Novorossiysk/Photo BlackSky

And on September 14, there were no enemy ships in the port at all. According to analysts, some of them were “hiding” in a neighboring commercial port.

There was not a single ship in the Novorossiysk port on September 14/Photo by BlackSky

An intelligence officer, on condition of anonymity, commented on the behavior of the Russian fleet in Novorossiysk as a “new tactic”. However, it is still unclear what exactly its goal is.

The most interesting thing is that when the ships dispersed, there was no further attack. This is a completely new phenomenon when naval ships completely leave the port. They simply have nowhere else to go, the intelligence officer noted.

At the same time, the intelligence representative noted that the Russian ships that left Novorossiysk mostly “hang around” outside the port. Moreover, sometimes they accumulate, which also makes them vulnerable to attacks.

Some analysts suggest that such “strange behavior” of the Russian fleet may be a reaction to the then reports that the US and Great Britain may lift restrictions on the use of their long-range missiles for strikes deep into the aggressor country.

However, OSINT analyst and fellow at the American Enterprise Institute Brady Africk told reporters that Ukraine is steadily developing its capabilities to deliver long-range strikes against Russian military vessels.