Ukraine attacks reportedly force Russia to move Black Sea Fleet warships away from Sevastopol naval base

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has been forced to move many warships from the naval base of Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, following Ukraine attacks.

The remarks by Dmitry Rogozin, a Russian-installed senator for the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia region and a former head of Russia’s space agency, are the first Russian official confirmation that the fleet has had to move from Sevastopol.

Ukraine has repeatedly said its attacks on Russian warships in the Black Sea have forced Moscow to move ships to Novorossiisk.

Rogozin told the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper that Russia needed to get more serious about its drone development, the organisation of its military drone units and the development of electronic warfare and satellite positioning systems.

Russia had been behind on drone technology at the start of the 2022 war. Although it has since made significant advances, it needed to move faster, particularly in the focus of its weapons spending and the creation of special drone regiments, Rogozin said.

Meanwhile, Russian forces are fighting street-to-street battles with Ukrainian troops in the outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian town of Selydove as Moscow’s forces push to gain control over the whole of the Donbas region, according to pro-Russian bloggers.

“Street by street fighting is going on in the town,” according to Yuri Podolyaka, a prominent Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger. “The assault on Selydove has intensified.”

Other pro-Russian bloggers published videos of intensive shelling of Selydove. Reuters was unable to verify the footage immediately Russian defence ministry did not comment and there was no immediate comment from Kyiv.

The General Staff of Ukraine’s military, in a late afternoon report on Sunday, said Ukrainian forces had repelled 15 Russian attacks around several towns and villages, including Selydove.

The report said nine battles were still raging in the area.

The 2.5-year-old Ukraine war is entering what Russian officials say is its most dangerous phase as Russian forces advance and the West ponders how the war will end.

Ukraine wants NATO membership, a step that Russia has said would be unacceptable.

The United States and key NATO powers have not publicly endorsed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s call for an immediate NATO membership invitation.

Russian forces, which have taken about a fifth of Ukraine, control 98.5 per cent of the Luhansk region and 60 per cent of the Donetsk region. Together, the two areas make up the Donbas, which is the cradle of the war.