Amazingly the Russian Black Sea Fleet is nowhere to be found
This post first appeared on Russia Insider
Over the last two years, the regime in Ukraine has become so increasingly irrelevant, and the whole world has become so tired of its comical pronouncements and ludicrous antics, that few pay attention anymore to daily briefings given by the poor Ukraine Crisis Media Center - the information equivalent of a vaudeville act set up by the USA and all the usual suspects in the wake of the 2013 coup.
The ridiculous Colonel Lysenko, who cries daily about supposed attacks of Russian terrorists (actually the people of Donbass defending themselves from Kiev's terror shelling), rarely finds himself quoted anywhere anymore. I wonder if anyone is even actually in the audience, beyond a few regime lackeys, or if he is lecturing to an empty room.
Among the delusions promoted on their website, include infographics claiming, among other things, that the paper fantasy-state "Ukrainian People's Republic" was a signatory of the 1917 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (it wasn't), or that the massive number of bank failures in Ukraine since 2013 represents cleaning up financial corruption. (Maybe the massive failures in Ukrainian industry thanks to their economic suicide represents fighting economic waste?)
I suppose I shouldn't be giving these clowns any press they don't deserve, but I noticed something about their "situation map" of Donbass which just tipped the scales of absurdity.
Their children's map shows 3 Ukrainian warships dominating the Sea of Azov, where it says they are preventing the infiltration of saboteurs, etc.
ukraine-donbass.jpg
The Ukrainian Navy is basically a nonexistent joke, with only 1 frigate and 1 corvette to its name, as far as warships are concerned. Most of its ships were caught in Crimea in 2014, and then graciously returned to Ukraine by the "aggressor state" which captured them.
By contrast, Russia's Black Sea Fleet (not considering the Russian Navy as a whole) is composed of 1 cruiser, 1 destroyer, 3 frigates, 11 corvettes and 5 attack submarines. That includes only warships. It doesn't include assault landing ships, minesweepers, and support ships.
The Russian fleet is nowhere to be found on the clown Lysenko's cartoon drawing, but there can't be any doubt just from comparing the composition of the two fleets that if Russia were truly making war on Ukraine that demolishing Ukraine's naval power would be like swatting a fly for the Russian fleet.
There is absolutely no question of Kiev controlling the Sea of Azov, or its "7 task forces" (according to the map key) impeding anything that Russia wanted to do on the Ukrainian coast, were it so inclined.
It's a good thing Ukraine can avail itself of the almighty Crimean Tatar battle fleet, in imposing its blockade and insuring Ukrainian naval supremacy in the Black Sea.
This post first appeared on Russia Insider
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