The number and variety of deep-strike weapons with which Ukrainian forces can attack the fleet steadily are growing. The Russian fleet’s security is going to get worse before it gets better. When Russian warships leave port, they do so briefly-usually only long enough to launch a few cruise missiles at Ukrainian cities. Russian warships staging from Crimea are under constant assault as of last month, ships in Russia proper are at risk, too. Between its locally-made Neptune anti-ship missiles and Western-made Harpoon ASMs, as well as its missile-armed TB-2 drones and one-way drone boats, the Ukrainian navy isn’t just holding the Russian Black Sea Fleet at bay, it actively is beating back the fleet. The Ukrainian navy now effectively is a shipless navy, but no less dangerous for its lack of large hulls.
The sinkings and raids are a remarkable feat for a Ukrainian fleet that, after scuttling its sole frigate in the early hours of the Russian invasion in February 2022, apparently has just one large ship left: an aging landing ship that has been hiding out near the mouth of the Dnipro River and occasionally lobbing short-range rockets at Russian forces. They also said Rzhitsky had been included on the Myrotvorets database as early as 2014, when Russia illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula and took over a submarine based there that once was part of Ukraine's fleet.The Ukrainians also have sank or badly damaged several Russian patrol boats and landing craft-and also recently ejected Russian forces from a pair of captured Ukrainian oil platforms that the Russians had been using as naval outposts in the western Black Sea. Rzhitsky’s family denies he took part in the invasion, telling Baza he had resigned his post in December 2021. The site, which acts as an unofficial database of those considered by its users to be enemies of Ukraine, described Rzhitsky in 2022 as a “Russian war criminal.” His address and other personal details had been posted on the Ukrainian website Myrotvorets - “Peacemaker” in English. Rzhitsky was named commander of the submarine Krasnodar in 2016, and took part in Moscow’s military campaign in Syria, Russian media reported. Ukrainian intelligence said Rzhitsky had been shot seven times, while Russian news outlets Baza and Mash reported he had been shot six times.
However, the agency posted details about the killing on its Telegram channel, including the time of the attack, the number of shots fired, and local weather conditions.Īccounts of the killing differed. Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s main intelligence directorate, denied any involvement by Kyiv in the attack on Rzhitsky. In a Telegram post, the division said Rzhitsky was “apparently liquidated by his own (people) for refusing to continue following orders of the command to launch missile attacks on peaceful Ukrainian cities.” The Ukrainian Armed Forces’ strategic communications division also said Rzhitsky was involved in carrying out the strike, citing Ukrainian intelligence. Ukrainian media reported that Rzhitsky was one of six submarine commanders able to launch long-range missiles that hit the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia in July 2022, killing 23 people and wounding more than 100. At the time of his death, Rzhitsky was deputy head of military mobilization in the Krasnodar city administration.
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