KYIV: Ukraine's navy said on Monday that Moscow's last naval patrol ship had left Russian-occupied Crimea, "most likely" to rebase elsewhere after Kyiv's concerted military campaign to attack the Black Sea peninsula as it battles Russian attacks.
Though it has no major warships at its disposal, Ukraine has used missiles and naval drones to inflict significant damage to the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which has long been headquartered in Sevastopol on the peninsula seized by Moscow in 2014.
Vice-Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa, Ukraine's navy chief, said earlier that this month that Russia had been forced to rebase nearly all its combat-ready warships from occupied Crimea.
"The last patrol ship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation is bolting from our Crimea just now. Remember this day," Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said on Facebook.
Asked to clarify whether this was a permanent move, Pletenchuk said: "Most likely, this is a transition between bases", adding that Moscow did not usually send ships to the open sea for no reason. He said the vessel's designation was Project 1135.
Kyiv has destroyed or damaged 27 Russian naval vessels, Neizhpapa said. In May, Ukrainian authorities said they had destroyed the last Russian warship armed with cruise missiles that was stationed on the peninsula. Moscow's setbacks in the Black Sea come at a time when Ukrainian ground troops are on the back foot across a sprawling front and in particular in the east.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday he aimed to have all the elements of a peace plan ready in November so that Kyiv could convene a second, follow-up international summit on his vision for peace.
Ukraine held a first summit in Switzerland last month that was attended by representatives of 92 countries, but not Russia. Kyiv has said it could invite representatives from Russia to the next one. "I set a goal that in November we would have a fully ready plan," Zelenskiy told a news conference.
Zelenskiy made the remark in Kyiv after returning from a visit to Washington last week for a summit of the Nato military alliance more than 28 months since Russia's full-scale attack.
Ukraine has said the follow-up summit would discuss a plan that is devised by dozens of countries divided into working groups. — Reuters
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