Russia loses Black Sea mining capacity – Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs

In March 2024, a "YAM" type anchor mine was destroyed off the coast of Bulgaria. Photo: Ministry of Defense of Bulgaria

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Due to the loss of multiple bombers, the Russian army now has a limited number of options for placing mines in the Black Sea. Nevertheless, Ukrainian explosive specialists have a sufficient workload of clearing the water area of dangerous objects.

The spokesman of the Naval Forces of Ukraine's armed forces, captain of the 3rd rank Dmytro Pletenchuk, said this on the air of the national telethon.

"As of now, the capabilities are much less. Recently, when this happened, it was aviation that was used after the loss of another Su-24, which was dropping ground mines.

They haven't been doing this for several months. I am not ready to present such cases of mining now," the officer emphasized.

At the same time, Pletenchuk noted that so many mines in the sea "independently move unpredictably, plus the consequences of the Kakhovka HPP explosion, when everything that was mined on the left bank was washed into the sea."

So, according to the spokesman, there is plenty of daily work to search for and dispose of mines and explosive objects.

For reference:

As Rubryka reported, Bulgaria, Romania, and Türkiye want to involve other countries of the North Atlantic Alliance in demining the Black Sea.

On January 11, the defense ministers of Türkiye, Bulgaria, and Romania signed an agreement to jointly combat sea mines, which pose a threat to shipping in the Black Sea after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Subsequently, it became known that from April to May of the current year, a joint anti-mine group consisting of Bulgaria, Romania, and Türkiye will be able to start clearing the Black Sea of mines.

According to the Bulgarian defense representative, the three nations have participated in collaborative exercises for quite some time. Therefore, there are no concerns regarding the preparedness of the teams.

However, for the coalition to work, Türkiye must ratify the agreement.