Until February 2022, Ukraine’s Navy consisted largely of Soviet-era surface ships and some of the land-based infrastructure inherited in the late 1990’s when Kyiv and Moscow divided the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet. The navies of both countries were based in the peninsula’s historic main port, Sevastopol, which was occupied by Russia in 2014. In reality this meant that Ukraine had an extremely weak navy, incapable of resisting Russia during a full-scale invasion in 2022.

Things look very different in 2024. According to the General Staff, in 2.5 years of war Ukraine disabled one-third of the Russian Navy, damaging or destroying 24 ships and one submarine, worth $4 billion.  By August 2024, the remainder of the Russian Black Sea Fleet retreated to Novorossiisk to preserve what equipment remained of its former self. Russian naval defeat by a country which does not even have a fleet has become a textbook case for navy schools to study, raising questions about navy investment priorities for governments and armies across Europe.