2024-09-27 12:32:33
Russia’s last aircraft carrier has been in port for years. Now the crew has to go to the front.
The Russian Navy has apparently formed a mechanized battalion called “Frigate” from parts of the crew of its only Soviet-era aircraft carrier “Admiral Kuznetsov” and sent it to the front in Ukraine. In total there are said to be around 1,500 soldiers who are supposed to compensate for Russian losses in Ukraine. This can be concluded from the reports of user Moklasen in Network X, who evaluated publicly available data.
Accordingly, there were messages on the Russian network “Vk” asking for help in finding men from military unit 78987. This was previously stationed on the aircraft carrier. But they are now deployed at the front and many of them have disappeared, according to the news.
According to the Ukrainian military, the “frigate” battalion was initially stationed in the Kharkiv region, but was later relocated to the Pokrovsk sector. The disappearance of sailor Oleg Sosedov from the crew of the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, who was deployed in the storming of the border village of Sotnytsky Kosachok in the Kharkiv region in July, became known in August.
The last remaining Russian aircraft carrier has been in dock near Murmansk for a long time. In an interview with the American news magazine Forbes, Russian military expert Pavel Luzin explained that the main problem in repairing the aircraft carrier was the engine. During the Soviet era, all aircraft carriers were manufactured in Ukraine. According to Luzin, Russia itself does not have the necessary machines to produce these itself and Ukraine has no longer been available as a spare parts supplier since Russia’s war of aggression, which violates international law, in 2022.
The Kuznetsov’s last deployment was in 2016, when Russia used the aircraft carrier to carry out strikes on Islamic State positions in Syria. During the operation, two Russian jets were destroyed by onboard accidents.