On September 14, 2024, the naval grouping of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation left the base in Novorossiysk.

Analyst @CovertShores reported on this with reference to satellite images on his page on social media X.

“Probably in response to Ukrainian air threats, possibly the news that Storm Shadow missiles could be used in Russia. Today, Russian Navy ships have completed the evacuation of Novorossiysk,” he wrote.

The released satellite image shows completely empty berths, with the exception of one on the far left, where Black Sea Fleet ships used to be based.

Other OSINTERs confirm his words. In particular, @HUJINSYOUJO published satellite images for September 9 and 14, 2024, which allow us to see changes in ship basing.

It is not yet clear where the Black Sea Fleet ships went. However, OSINTER @MT_Anderson found two groups of ships using satellite imagery that are likely to belong to the Black Sea Fleet grouping. However, they were not heading north towards the Azov Sea and the Volga-Don Canal but south, passing by Gelendzhik.

It is also unclear whether this is a permanent relocation or temporary maneuvers.

Withdrawal of the Black Sea Fleet from Novorossiysk

This is not Russia’s first withdrawal of Black Sea Fleet ships from Novorossiysk. In early June 2024, it already withdrew a large group from there. At that time, Russian dock landing ships with a powerful escort left the port of Novorossiysk, where they had previously been hiding from Ukrainian attacks for an extended period.

However, there was still a significant grouping in the port at the time, including two frigates, a medium-sized reconnaissance ship, a small anti-submarine ship, a landing boat, a corvette, and one project patrol ship.

Later, some of the ships that were then withdrawn from Novorossiysk were spotted in Sevastopol and the Sea of Azov.

At the beginning of August, the Ukrainian Defense Forces destroyed a Russian submarine and an S-400 air defense system in temporarily occupied Crimea.

On August 2, 2024, units of the missile forces, in cooperation with units of the Ukrainian Navy, significantly damaged four launchers of the S-400 Triumf air defense system. In addition, according to the Ukrainian military, a Rostov-na-Donu submarine of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was successfully hit in the port of temporarily occupied Sevastopol.