ON A UKRAINIAN PATROL IN THE BLACK SEA, Ukraine – A Ukrainian maritime patrol boat set off from Odesa on the Black Sea – a historic and strategically vital port city that is regularly targeted by Russian strikes.

Standing on its prow, a border guard scoured the sky with a Stinger missile on his shoulder as the crew set off to inspect a cargo ship heading to Ukraine.

While the front line on land has remained largely static, Ukraine has managed to push Russia’s navy back from its shores and claimed another success on Dec 26, saying it had destroyed a Russian landing ship.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed these Black Sea successes as “a big victory”, allowing the grain-producing nation to export to world markets.

Despite Russia’s threats of strikes and its supposed naval superiority, Ukraine’s efforts have managed to keep open a maritime corridor for food exports.

“The achievement is remarkable because Ukraine is virtually bereft of warships,” read a recent commentary in Defense News, a specialist US website.

It has been Ukraine’s only major military success in 2023, as its advances on land have been very limited.

Following a series of Russian retreats in 2022, the front line has remained virtually unchanged in 2023 after a Ukrainian counter-offensive largely fizzled out.

Russian forces in recent weeks have put additional pressure on Ukrainian positions and claimed some gains on the eastern front.

But on the Black Sea, Russia was now “on the defensive”, Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said.

That is a contrast from the maritime blockade that Russia’s navy was able to impose on Ukrainian ports after the invasion began in February 2022.

‘Twelve ships’ destroyed

Control of the Black Sea has become critical after Russia in August quit an international deal that had allowed some Ukrainian grain exports.

Ukraine has since carved out a maritime corridor in the western part of the Black Sea to link Ukrainian ports with the Bosphorus strait and to the Mediterranean.

Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014 in a move condemned by Kyiv and the West as an illegal seizure, is located in the northern part of the Black Sea and has become a vital military base for Russia to supply its forces in southern Ukraine and carry out strikes deep into Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine has stepped up attacks on the peninsula in 2023, including a spectacular strike on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol, which forced Moscow to pull its warships back to Novorossiisk and Tuapse, Black Sea ports farther to the east.

Ukraine claimed a further success on Dec 26, saying it had destroyed a large Russian landing ship, the Novocherkassk, in the Crimean port of Feodosia.

Captain Pletenchuk said anti-ship missile systems such as the US-made Harpoon and Ukraine’s Neptune have “changed the rules of the game”.

He said Ukraine had also created a brigade specialising in warfare using surface and submarine drones.

Speaking before the Feodosia attack, he said these weapons have allowed Ukraine to destroy 12 Russian ships and damage 22 more since the start of the war.

The claim could not be independently verified.

‘Unique’ naval drones

Ukraine’s SBU security service also told AFP that it had developed “unique” maritime drones capable of carrying up to “800kg of explosives for 800km in moderate storm conditions”.

The new type of weapon is nicknamed “Sea Baby” and the SBU said it was used to hit the Russian-built Crimean Bridge and 10 Russian ships in 2022 and 2023.

Despite this arsenal, Ukrainian forces in the Black Sea face the constant danger of Russian mines, drones and missiles.

As the cargo ship entered the territorial waters of Ukraine after passing along the shores of Bulgaria and Romania, the Ukrainian border guards in full battle gear prepared to board, setting off for the 225m Liberia-flagged ship in a small boat.

Mr Oleksandr Yakovenko, an assistant to the commander of the Odesa Marine Guard detachment, said the mission was to inspect the crew and check for “arms, ammunition and explosives” on board.

The Ukrainian Sea Guard and the naval forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine patrol some 200km of coastline and the ports of Pivdennyi, Odesa and Chornomorsk, as well as Izmail on the Danube River farther south.

Despite Russian attacks and threats, Ukraine says it has been able to export 10 million tonnes of produce on 302 ships to 24 countries since August along its maritime corridor.

Once they finished their checks, the armed border guards made their way off the ship down a shaky rope ladder that swayed in the sea’s swell.

Mr Yakovenko said border guards have checked more than 2,200 arriving and departing vessels since the start of the year.

He said the only attacks at sea involved two civilian cargo ships damaged by Russian mines, though there are regular strikes on the ports themselves.

“The danger is present,” he said. AFP