Russia lost a fifth of its Black Sea Fleet in last 4 months: UK

• Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is getting smaller, says UK’s defense secretary Grant Shapps. 
• “Over the past 4 months 20% of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has been destroyed,” Shapps wrote on X.
• The fleet has faced multiple setbacks over the course of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is ending the year on a bad note.

“They haven’t noticed that over the past 4 months 20% of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has been destroyed,” UK defense secretary Grant Shapps wrote on X on Tuesday.

Shapps made the remarks while reposting a video of a Ukrainian attack on a Russian landing ship at a Black Sea port, which took place on Tuesday.

Ukraine’s missiles had struck the Russian warship Novocherkassk while it was at Feodosiya in Russian-controlled Crimea. Russia’s defense ministry confirmed on the same day that the ship had been “damaged,” per state-run news outlet TASS.

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has seen the Black Sea Fleet enduring multiple setbacks.

Last year, Russian officials said the fleet’s flagship Moskva had sunk after an explosion occurred aboard.

Although Russia’s naval power is much larger than Ukraine’s, the former’s navy has struggled against the latter’s exploding maritime drones.

In September, Ukraine launched a missile attack on the Sevastopol Shipyard in Russian-controlled Crimea. The attack on the shipyard, which plays a critical role in servicing the Black Sea Fleet, managed to damage two Russian navy vessels.

Representatives for Russia’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.