The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirms information about Russian ships moving towards Odesa, says Ukrinform citing sources in the General Staff of the AFoU.
As was previously reported by Naval News, satellite images show the ships of the Russian navy nearing the Ukrainian coast. Sentinel 2 image made at 11:47 local time shows at least 14 boats.
The preliminary analysis shows three groups of ships: two consist of warships, the third one - of several landing ships. A tugboat probably leads the northern group. Two landing ships of Ropucha class follow, then another tugboat and a trawler Ropucha. The second group reportedly consists of smaller military boats such as missile corvettes. The southern group is led by a cruiser, "Moskva," of Slava class. It probably has two landing ships of Alligator class and a landing ship of "Ivan Gren" "Petr Morgunov" class. There is also a smaller warship, possibly a missile corvette of Buyan-M class.
It looks like the landing ships started from their positions near the coast of Crimea. Russian warships have approached Odesa before, but they are landing ships this time. The source adds that there has been information about a possible landing and evidence that the landing had been planned.
Earlier, Oleksandr Lukashenko showed the plan of the landing near Odesa. It was a clear communication error, as no landing followed in the following days. The analysts are poring over satellite pictures looking for other ships. The actual objectives of these movements are unknown.
Earlier, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danylov stated: "There is a burning desire to land on the coast of Odesa. But we are waiting for them, and they will not have an easy walk. We understand what's happening. The situation is under control; someone will be meeting them."