Russians withdrew 19 ships from Novorossiysk to prevent damage, Pletenchuk says

Over the past day, the Russian Federation has taken 19 ships out to sea from the port of Novorossiysk to prevent them from being attacked by Ukrainian defense forces.

This was reported by the spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy, Dmytro Pletenchuk, Ukrinform reports.

According to him, the harbor of the Novorossiysk port has all possible means of protection: detection of the surface and underwater situation, air defense systems, a system of observation posts, anti-drone measures against sea and air drones. However, the enemy did not rely on them and took the ships out to sea.

“Over the past day, the Russians, in order to protect the ships, simply took them out to sea. These are dispersal measures. 19 units left the harbor and were outside the borders in anticipation of a possible strike. This is an effective way to preserve their ships,” Pletenchuk noted.

The spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy also added that the fleet of ships that has weapons and could pose a threat is in Novorossiysk.

“As for Crimea, there remains an auxiliary fleet there, that is, units that are part of the Black Sea Fleet, but are not combat units,” emphasized Dmytro Pletenchuk.

As previously reported by USM, on March 19 it became known that the Defense Intelligence attacked a transport ship and a tugboat of the invaders in Crimea.