Russia builds new Black Sea base 500 miles from front line

Dr Neil Melvin, the director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute , said Ochamchire could eventually be used to fire cruise missiles at Ukraine beyond the reach of its drones and partisans. “You wouldn’t see the whole Black Sea fleet there but you’d see some parts of it,” he said. “You might see the corvettes that they have, it may even be that they move some of the modernised frigates that are the most deadly parts of the fleet because they are the ones firing cruise missiles. The missiles have long enough range that Russia could potentially even fire them from relatively close to Ochamchire.”