Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, commander of the Russian Navy, has been replaced with Admiral Aleksandr Moiseyev, Fontanka, a Russian news outlet, and Russian newspaper Izvestiya reported on March 10, citing unnamed sources.
The news comes amid reports that around 20% of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet had been destroyed as of December 2023.
Previously Moiseyev had been the commander of Russia's Northern Fleet.
Yevmenov, who had been the commander of the Russian Navy since May 2019, is still listed on the Defense Ministry's website. The Russian Defense Ministry did not comment on the alleged replacement.
Ukraine has repeatedly struck Russia's Black Sea Fleet since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, including the sinking of the flagship cruiser Moskva in April 2022 and a devastating missile attack on the fleet's headquarters in occupied Crimea that reportedly killed more than 30 officers.
In a recent development, Sergey Kotov, a Russian Black Sea Fleet patrol ship, was hit and destroyed in an overnight attack orchestrated by Ukraine's military intelligence agency on March 5.
Meanwhile, Atesh, a Ukrainian partisan movement, reported on March 10 that Russian forces were transporting Russian ship engines from the occupied Crimea to a naval base in Novorossiysk.
The report also said that the move was prompted by “successful Ukrainian strikes on military targets in Crimea.”
Read also: These are the most important Russian ships destroyed by Ukraine
