Russia withdrew a large group of ships from Novorossiysk

Russian dock landing ships with a powerful escort have left the port of Novorossiysk, where they had previously been hiding from Ukrainian attacks for an extended period.

The movement of ships was reported by MT Anderson, an OSINT analyst.

Comparing the latest satellite images from Airbus for June 5 with data from June 2, the analyst noted that a large group of Russian Navy ships had left the port of Novorossiysk.

The vessels in question are:

• Two Project 22160 patrol ships;
• Two Buyan-class corvettes;
• Two Ropucha-class landing ships;
• One Ivan Gren-class landing ship;
• One Tapir-class landing ship;
• Two Kilo-class submarines.

Together with them, two Project 266M “Aquamarine-M” minesweepers and one Project 12700 “Alexandrite” minesweeper also set off in an unknown direction.

The reasons and the destination point of the transfer of such a large group of ships of the Russian fleet are currently unknown.

One explanation could be the involvement of the surviving Russian LSDs to perform logistical tasks, replacing the recently damaged ships at the ferry crossing in Crimea. Along with the landing ships, well-armed patrol and missile ships, as well as minesweepers, were sent as escorts.

In addition to the mentioned vessels, two Project 11356R frigates remained in Novorossiysk: the Admiral Essen and Admiral Makarov, Vishnya (Meridian) class intelligence ship, Grisha class corvette (Project 1124 Albatros), Dyugon-class landing craft and Buyan class corvette.

One Project 22160 patrol ship also remained in port. It was equipped with a Tor-M2KM modular anti-aircraft missile system. The latter is deployed on the rear deck instead of the helicopter.

Recall that on the night of June 6, 2024, the Ukrainian military destroyed the Russian Project 498 “Saturn” raid tug in the water area of Lake Panske in the west of the Crimean Peninsula.