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Russia keeps 5 warships in Black Sea, one armed with Kalibr missiles: Ukraine Navy
Russia is keeping five warships on combat duty in the Black Sea, including one which is armed with up to four Kalibr cruise missiles, Ukraine’s Navy said on Sunday.
“There are five enemy ships on combat duty in the Black Sea, including a Kalibr cruise missile carrier with up to four missiles, and one enemy ship in the Sea of Azov,” the Ukrainian Navy said on Facebook.
It added that there are eight Russian warships in the Mediterranean Sea, including two of them armed with up to 24 Kalibr cruise missiles.
The Kalibr is a Russian cruise missile system. Currently, the Russian troops use two modifications of Kalibr cruise missiles: the shipborne Kalibr-NK that are capable of striking surface, coastal and underwater targets at a distance of up to 2,600 km, and the submarine-launched Kalibr-PL, according to state news agency TASS.
It added that at present, non-nuclear submarines armed with Kalibr-PL cruise missiles are in service with Russia’s Black Sea and Pacific fleets. Those missiles are also installed on nuclear subs of various types.
This comes amid very high tensions in the Black Sea after a Russian warship fired “warning shots” at a civilian cargo ship in the Black Sea last week, because it allegedly refused the Russian demand to stop.
That was the first such incident since Russia announced in July that it will start considering all vessels traveling on the Black Sea heading to Ukrainian ports as “potential military cargo carriers”. It also declared a number of areas in the northwestern and southeastern parts of the international waters of the Black Sea as “temporarily dangerous for navigation,” and adding that the flag countries of ships traveling to Ukrainian ports will be considered parties to the conflict on Kyiv’s side.
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