Russian President Vladimir Putin is making sweeping changes to the naval leadership as the conflict in Ukraine nears the third year of fighting. This week, Admiral Viktor Sokolov was fired from his post as commander of the Black Sea Fleet, a move that many had expected given the fleet’s heavy losses.
“Admiral Viktor Sokolov has finally been removed from the post of commander of the Black Sea Fleet,” reported the Military Informant Telegram channel. The decision comes after the fleet suffered severe setbacks, including the destruction of numerous vessels and equipment.
His deputy, Vice-Admiral Sergey Pinchuk, is temporarily replacing Sokolov while a long-term replacement is sought, according to pro-Kremlin military analyst Sergey Markov. “The commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet has been replaced,” Markov noted, adding that the decision has been met with understanding and approval within Russia.
Under Sokolov’s leadership, the Black Sea Fleet has experienced enormous losses, including the February destruction of the nearly $70 million missile ship Ivanovets. These losses have seriously affected Russia’s strategic objectives, among them an envisioned taking of Odesa, a strategically important Ukrainian port city.
Sokolov’s tenure had been marred by a succession of high-profile defeats, starting with the loss in 2022 of the flagship cruiser Moskva, following a Neptune missile strike from Ukraine. That has been compounded by the fleet’s setbacks, which have been topped off by Ukraine’s counteroffensive since Russia allowed a United Nations-backed grain deal to collapse targeting Ukrainian grain facilities along the coast.
Ukraine claims to have sunk 25 of the approximately 80 vessels deployed at the start of the invasion, with an additional 15 under repair. The Black Sea Fleet’s losses have been so severe that one Western official described it as little more than a “coast defense flotilla.”
Meanwhile, the fleet’s headquarters in Sevastopol have also been hit several times, including drone strikes that killed people and saw planned Navy Day celebrations canceled. More than half the fleet’s combat jets were disabled following a series of explosions at Saki air base in Crimea.
The Black Sea Fleet’s specialized 810th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade has taken its share of hard hits, above all during the combat for Mariupol. It is reported that Colonel Aleksey Sharov, the commander of this brigade, was killed in March.
Blame has also fallen upon poor vessels and out-of-date systems, combined with poor preparation and apparent carelessness. Although there has just been a change in leadership, the fleet still has very tough times ahead as it cannot even reinforce its strength because of Turkey’s closure of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits to its warships.
With its reduced strength, the Black Sea Fleet’s primary roles now include blockading Ukrainian ports and launching cruise missiles from a distance. Many of the almost 4,000 missiles fired into Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion have been Kalibr ship-launched missiles from Russian frigates and submarines in the Black Sea.
But the flagship Moskva and what became of its crew specifically represent a sensitive point for the public inside Russia. Much more deeply, these struggles now plaguing the fleet underline more far-reaching challenges that have been looming over Russia’s military effort in Ukraine.