Military intelligence: Russian missile ship sunk off occupied Crimea. All 27 leaders of EU member states agreed on an additional 50 billion euro ($54 billion) support package for Ukraine within the EU budget, European Council President Charles Michel announced on Feb. 1.
One of the most unexpected developments of the full-scale invasion was how many big, expensive Russian ships were taken out by Ukraine, a country that technically has no navy. Around 20% of Russia’s Black Sea fleet has been destroyed as of December 2023, according to National Security and Defense Council head Oleksii Danilov. Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk on Nov. 17 said that Ukrainian forces have destroyed 15 Russian warships in the Black Sea and damaged 12 others since the start of the all-out war in February 2022.
For the first time, Russian authorities publicly confirmed the death of a sailor from the VDK Novocherkask, a vessel destroyed in the port of temporarily occupied Feodosia on Dec. 26, with this acknowledgment later being removed, Ukrainian news outlet Krym.Realii reported on Jan. 30.
The head of the Ukrainian navy suggested his sailors could take over the two Royal Navy warships at risk of being retired early due to a staff shortages within the British military branches.