Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s prized Black Sea fleet ‘struggling’ with threats on southern front

Russia’s prized Black Sea Fleet is struggling to contend with threats to Ukraine’s southern flank, according to British military intelligence. In its morning briefing, the Ministry of Defence said: “In recent weeks, the Naval Aviation component of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has assumed a particularly important role in the Fleet’s operations as it struggles to deal with concurrent threats on the southern flank of the Ukraine war. “Naval Aviation is emphasising maritime air patrol operations, highly likely with a primary mission of the early identification of uncrewed surface vessels.” The MoD’s latest update comes after a person was killed and six injured, including two children, as Russian shelling continued to hammer Ukraine‘s southern region of Kherson overnight. On the Telegram messaging app the governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said Russian forces had launched 71 attacks in the past 24 hours, “aimed at the residential districts”, as well as shops and medical infrastructure, among other establishments. Twenty of the air and land attacks targeted the city of Kherson, the region’s administrative district, the governor added, while authorities promptly doused a fire sparked by shelling early on Monday. Read More Congress didn't include funds for Ukraine in its spending bill. How will that affect the war? Ukraine is increasing the pressure on Putin – it cannot afford support from the West to slip now Wagner succession: Yevgeny Prigozhin’s son ‘set to be next mercenary boss’ Elon Musk mocked by Ukraine’s parliament over tweet taunting Zelensky