“The number of Russian ships at sea is zero”: an expert explained how naval drones blocked the Black Sea Fleet

Captain of the first rank of the reserve Andriy Ryzhenko explained how Ukraine effectively blocked the Black Sea Fleet in ports.

Russia was not ready for the asymmetric actions of Ukrainian naval drones – and this is what allowed Ukraine to significantly limit the activity of the Black Sea Fleet. This was stated on the air of Ukrainian Radio by Captain of the first rank of the reserve, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2004-2020 Andriy Ryzhenko.

“Maneuverable warfare at sea is also built on asymmetry. Asymmetry means that you identify some weak capabilities of the enemy and exploit or destroy them,” he explained.

According to Ryzhenko, the Black Sea Fleet was built according to the principles of the Cold War – with the expectation of large-scale use of a large number of ships. The emergence of naval drones revealed the critical vulnerability of such a model.

“The bet was made on such a huge force that lands, practically crushes the opponent with this force and carries out its tasks. But thanks to such an asymmetric approach, the critical vulnerability of all these huge Russian ships to naval drones was revealed,” he noted.

The result was striking. Thanks to such an innovative approach, losing in the ratio of forces of the parties 12 to 1 at the beginning of the war and 4 to 1 at the present time, Ukraine has actually blocked the enemy’s forces in ports and basing points, Ryzhenko said.

“If earlier the Russians constantly had 50 ships and vessels at sea, now the number of ships is mostly “zero”. And this is precisely due to this. Therefore, drones have really written a new page,” he noted.

The expert also called the further use of unmanned systems to control sea areas, protect ports and protect shipping promising. Ukrainian experience, according to him, is already being actively studied and adapted by Western partners — both in operational concepts and technological solutions.

Meanwhile, Russia has proposed blowing up  its own tankers of the “shadow fleet” in the event of detention.