Warship attack has symbolic and military value

The director of the Russia Maritime Studies Institute at the US Naval War College, Prof Michael Petersen, has been speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme about the news that Russian vessel the Moskva has been seriously damaged.

He says it’s still too early to know exactly what happened but “it really does increasingly look like the Ukrainians have managed to pull off a not-insignificant victory at sea.”

“I think it’s one that has symbolic and military value as well,” he explains.

“This is the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, and it’s getting a bit long in the tooth but it is the symbol of Russian naval power in the Black Sea.”

He says that the Ukrainians lost most of their navy to the Russians in the initial invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014, so “this is important symbolically because after all of that, they are still able to strike at Russian military power in ways that will really hurt back in Moscow.”

He adds it may have “important military value as well as the ‘Russian navy may feel obligated to operate further off-shore now than they were previously.”

“That may affect its ability to provide direct fire support to troops ashore and it might hinder their ability to provide air defence in coastal regions… I do think it will make the Russian navy think twice.” Petersen said

Reuters /Shakirat Sadiq