In August, certain components of Russian exports fell by 80%. Russia also acknowledges that its Black Sea Fleet ships are effectively blocked in Novorossiysk due to Ukrainian drone strikes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated following a report by Oleh Ivaschenko, head of the Main Intelligence Agency (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense.
“Our military intelligence has established that, according to internal Russian documents, certain categories of exports from the aggressor state have already fallen by 80% this month alone. These are significant losses for Russia’s federal budget, as well as for regional budgets that were already on the verge of bankruptcy as it was. The Russian side acknowledges that the ships of its Black Sea fleet are basically blocked in Novorossiysk as a result of our drone strikes and are unable to operate at sea. The Russian leadership cannot find a way out of this situation,” Zelenskyy said on X Friday.
According to the president, Russia is considering, in particular, equipping civilian vessels with small arms, electronic warfare systems, and military personnel, since the Russian fleet is unable to provide convoys for merchant and shadow fleets calling at the relevant ports.
“We will prepare appropriate response measures to Russia’s militarization of shipping,” Zelenskyy said on X.
He also said that Ukraine will oppose Russia’s plans to increase the production of ballistic missiles, “and it is important that there be corresponding sanctions support in the world’s major jurisdictions.”
“All supplies of components, equipment, and machine tools that Russia uses to manufacture missiles must be completely blocked. And this is also the responsibility of our partners – without foreign components, the Russians are unable to implement a single element of their missile program,” the head of state stressed.
