With its surface fleet under threat from Ukrainian naval
drones, Russia now resorts to patrolling the Black Sea with a handful of
submarines, Ukrainian Naval Forces spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk told
Ukrainian TV broadcasters on June 18.
“There's a clear trend that [Russian] submarines are constantly present in the Black Sea,” he said.
According to Pletenchuk, there are four Russian submarines deployed in the Black Sea, three of which carry cruise missiles, while one has remained in port recently.
He suggested that the Russian navy is trying to patrol the Black Sea as extensively as possible, while refraining from deploying surface ships.
Earlier, Pletenchuk said that Ukrainian forces have managed to incapacitate about a third of the surface ships in Russia's Black Sea Fleet.