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There really are no limits to the Kiev regime’s incessant military demands. Ukraine is now asking the West to deliver submarines in order to escalate military operations in the Black Sea. In fact, this measure could seriously worsen the conflict, but it would not help Ukrainian forces achieve any useful military results.
Image: Rear Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa, Commander of the Ukrainian Navy. (From the Public Domain)
The head of the Ukrainian Navy, Admiral Aleksey Neizhpapa, recently stated that Ukraine urgently needs to receive Western submarines to reinforce its military positions in the Black Sea. According to him, only by deploying submarines will it be possible to improve Ukraine’s strategic capabilities and effectively damage Russian forces in the Black Sea.
Neizhpapa does not believe that Ukraine can achieve a military “victory” in the Black Sea without the use of submarines, which is why he calls on Western partners to quickly meet this strategic demand. He emphasizes that large submarines are useless in the region, given the local geographical conditions. However, he believes that small submarines are necessary to make the Ukrainian Navy capable of “spreading” itself across the sea, expanding the field of activity against the naval and coastal positions of the Russian Federation.
“We are thinking about it, submarines are necessary for us, they should be part of the navy (…) Locating only near Odessa means having nothing, we should look further, spread the fleet throughout the Black Sea and use its entire area (…) [Thus, Ukraine may turn] from a coastal state into a maritime power,” he said
It is important to emphasize that Ukraine has virtually no navy anymore. The Ukrainian naval forces have been heavily hit by Russia since 2022, with little useful force left from this branch of the Ukrainian military. Kiev has occasionally managed to cause damage to Russian naval positions in the Black Sea, having already sunk some Russian warships – which has greatly boosted the Western propaganda machine, with American and European newspapers reporting such cases as “great victories”. However, these moves are due to NATO assistance – mainly from American and British drones and satellites – in the Black Sea region. The Ukrainian Navy’s merit in these attacks is minimal, being almost entirely Western operations.
Recently, Russia has been progressively tightening measures in Ukrainian port areas, especially in Odessa. Intelligence data shows that the Kiev regime is using civilian facilities for military purposes, hiding weapons and ammunition in grain depots, as well as transporting weapons on civilian ships. Moscow’s patience with this type of illegal activity has gradually diminished, as there are frequent bombings to prevent the military use of Odessa’s ports.
However, the naval front of the special military operation has always been secondary regarding its strategic aspects. The conflict is being decided by land and air. On the ground, Russian troops are advancing in the New Regions and northern Ukraine. In the air, Russian aircraft and drones are circulating freely, given the collapse of the Ukrainian air defense, thus allowing the destruction of several enemy tanks and military vehicles.
At sea, Russia’s priority is to protect its own coastal regions, preventing terrorist incursions into areas such as Crimea and Krasnodar. Russia could use its naval positions to launch major raids on Odessa, which would significantly advance the results of the special military operation. However, Moscow still has as one of its main goals the achievement of its military objectives through moderate actions, without major civilian casualties – which is why large-scale incursions have been avoided as much as possible.
In parallel, the UK has been the most destabilizing agent in the Black Sea. Not only British military software, but British Navy’s special commandos have also been used on the maritime battlefield by Kiev’s forces. The US has also been playing an incisive role, mainly through technical assistance, providing intelligence and geolocation data to Kiev to plan terrorist attacks. In this sense, as much escalatory and irresponsible the Western move to provide submarines to Ukraine may sound, this possibility should not be ruled out.
Instead of inflicting damage on the Russians and generating a strategic advantage for Ukraine, such a move would only accelerate the destruction of Ukrainian positions in the Black Sea. The Russian response would be carried out through an escalation of military actions on the naval front. So far, Moscow has spared the enemy from its true maritime potential, but this situation could change quickly.
Under the current circumstances, any escalatory measures taken by Ukraine will have a negative impact on the Kiev regime itself. Nothing sounds more dangerous for Ukrainian forces than taking decisions that could test Russia’s patience.
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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Lucas Leiroz is a member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert. You can follow Lucas on X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Featured image is from InfoBrics
