Tag: Black Sea

Russia Pivots South for Trade Following Western European Sanctions

For centuries, trade with Europe was the main pillar of Russia’s economy. The war in Ukraine ended that, with Western sanctions and other restrictions increasingly cutting Russia off from European markets. In response, Moscow has expanded ties with the countries more willing to do business with it — China to the east, and, via a […]

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Russia Fires Top Naval Commander After Ukrainian Strikes

The Kremlin has fired its top naval commander, the biggest fallout yet from a series of devastating attacks by Ukraine on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, according to a Ukrainian and a Western official. Adm. Nikolai Yevmenov, the head of the Russian Navy for the past five years, was removed from command and replaced by the […]

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Russia Strikes Odesa During Visit by Zelensky and Greek Leader

A Russian strike on the Ukrainian city of Odesa on Wednesday occurred while President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of Greece were visiting the strategic port city. Neither was hurt, and they appeared to have continued their visit. It is unclear whether the Russian Army specifically targeted them or how close they were […]

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Ukraine, Struggling on Land, Deals Blow to Russia at Sea

As outgunned Ukrainian soldiers struggle to hold back bloody Russian assaults on land, Ukraine said on Wednesday that its forces had struck yet another powerful blow against the Russians at sea, sinking a large Russian landing ship off the coast of Crimea before dawn. The Ukrainian military released footage of the strike, which it said […]

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Ukraine Attacks Russian Warship in Occupied Crimea

A Ukrainian attack hit a Russian warship moored in Crimea early on Tuesday, in what appeared to be one of the most significant strikes against Moscow’s prized Black Sea fleet in months. The Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement that it had destroyed the Novocherkassk, a large landing ship, in the southeastern Crimean port […]

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Blocked by Polish Truckers, Ukraine Turns to the Black Sea to Boost Trade

For weeks, a border blockade by Polish truckers has severely hampered Ukraine’s overland trade, preventing the war-torn country from exporting tons of grain, delaying the delivery of vital military equipment and squeezing the country’s already meager revenues. But an economic lifeline has emerged from what was long viewed as a high-risk trade route: the Black […]

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Drones Give Ukraine Some Success at Sea

Bouncing over choppy waters, the Ukrainian sea drones fanned out and sped toward the Russian warship in a swarming tactic that military experts say has proved lethal and effective against what had been a dominant naval power on the Black Sea. From the safety of a room hundreds of miles away, the drones’ pilots pushed […]

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Storm Batters Southern Ukraine, Causing Havoc for Civilians and Soldiers

A powerful wintry storm battered southern Ukraine on Monday, washing away Russian coastal defenses from some beaches on the occupied Crimean peninsula. The storm, which Ukrainian meteorologists said was among the most intense in decades, snarled supply routes for both countries’ armies and deepened the misery of tens of thousands of soldiers huddled in shallow […]

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Ukraine Accuses Russia of Deadly Strike on Civilian Ship in Black Sea

Ukraine said on Wednesday that a Russian missile had struck a civilian ship while it was moored in a port in the Black Sea region of Odesa, killing a port pilot on board and injuring three crew members and a port worker. The Ukrainian southern military command said in a statement that an anti-radar Russian […]

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Inside the Commando Raids Unnerving Russia in Crimea

Late one evening this month, two Ukrainian commandos eased into a side street in Kyiv in a battered SUV. Back from a dangerous nighttime assault on Russian positions in the Crimean peninsula, they slipped into a sparsely furnished apartment where they sat at desks, weary and a little disheveled, and described their latest operation in […]

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Ukraine Worries That Prolonged War in Gaza May Dilute Global Support

Ukraine, still locked in fierce combat with Russia along hundreds of miles of front line, also finds itself grappling with what are seen in Kyiv as worrying shifts in the geopolitics of the war. The attention of key allies is pivoting to the war in Gaza, military aid from the United States is bogged down […]

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Russia Hits Ukraine’s Ports for Second Day in a Row, Ukrainian Officials Say

The Russian military carried out overnight missile strikes on the southern region of Odesa, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday, injuring four people and damaging port infrastructure as part of a broader effort to strangle the Ukrainian economy. The Ukrainian southern military command said Russia used supersonic cruise missiles that hit a boardinghouse and a granary, […]

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Russia Releases New Videos of Viktor Sokolov, Admiral Ukraine Says It Killed

There was some question about how much stock should be placed in the videos released by Russia. Moscow has a well-established history of trying to sweep miliary embarrassments under the rug, most notably during this war when the flagship of its Black Sea Fleet was sunk. Even when its plans appear to work out, the […]

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Young Sailors in Odesa Are Severed From the Sea by Ukraine War

From the first hours of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the famous port city of Odesa has largely been without a working port. Once bustling with cargo vessels, cruise ships, sailboats, yachts and fishing trawlers, the harbor is now a vast expanse of open water. Sophia Dobrovolska, a 16-year-old aspiring merchant marine at the Odesa Sea […]

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Young Sailors in Odesa Are Severed From the Sea by Ukraine War

From the first hours of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the famous port city of Odesa has largely been without a working port. Once bustling with cargo vessels, cruise ships, sailboats, yachts and fishing trawlers, the harbor is now a vast expanse of open water. Sophia Dobrovolska, a 16-year-old aspiring merchant marine at the Odesa Sea […]

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Ukraine Says It Killed Chief of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet

Ukraine’s military claimed on Monday that it had killed the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in a strike on Crimea — a blow that, if confirmed, would be among the most damaging suffered by the Russian Navy since the sinking of the fleet’s flagship last year. Citing “new information about the losses of the […]

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Ukrainian Grain on Cargo Ship Reaches Romania

Ukraine took two bold steps toward securing export routes for its vital grain industry on Tuesday, sending a ship loaded with wheat along a new Black Sea route in the face of Russian naval aggression and challenging one of its main allies, Poland, over its opposition to Ukrainian imports. In an initial success, the ship, […]

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Ukraine Intensifies Attacks on Russia in Crimea and Black Sea

Ukraine is stepping up its long-distance attacks into Russian-occupied Crimea and the Black Sea, launching several new strikes on Thursday, in a campaign to break down the Kremlin’s war effort by hitting targets far behind the front lines where soldiers are fighting and dying. The Ukrainian military said it had hit a Russian surface-to-air missile […]

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