UK's Junior Defense Minister James Heappey:
"Ukraine has achieved a functional defeat of the Russian Black Sea Fleet."

The Russian fleet has been using Crimea as it's base to exert control over the Black Sea since their 2014 first invasion of
#Ukraine. #Russia has suffered a series of defeats, is withdrawing much of its fleet out of #Crimea, specifically #Sevastopol to the Russian port #Novorossiysk, & abandoning much Russian influence over the Black Sea. This is a big balance of power shift, Crimea is also hugely important for overall logistics, and the execution of the whole Russian invasion.

This also means international insurers have started reinsuring grain ships & shipments from Ukraine because of decreased risks from Russian terrorism in the black sea. Great for both Ukraine and the populations with food supplies that have been on ransom to
#Russian aggression.

Country with no Navy, handing defeats out to Russian Navy. Think what Ukraine will do when western politicians find their balls & supply
#ATACMS & #Taurus.
Appears Biden will shortly be announcing a major new package including crucial military technologies to help #Ukraine in it's fight for democracy and resisting the #Russian invasion.

#Biden: "I spoke with #Zelensky. And everything he’s asked for, we worked out."
#ATACMs #F16

@ArtBear if you look at Novorossiysk, it's really not suited to warships. Open harbour, a few floating drydocks with commercial ships already in it, and only a small population to support military personnel.

Yep, the Black Sea Fleet is done

@ArtBear Also consider implications for a seaborne invasion of Taiwan by CCP. Much more challenging than maintaining control of the Black Sea, and Taiwan has much better anti-ship missiles than Ukraine
@johnquiggin
Every authoritarian regime in the world is looking at support for
#Ukraine to see if it greenlights or redlights internal desires to invade their
neighbours.