time for the bbc, what's left of russia's black sea fleet in its third year of full-scale war. according to ukrainian and western experts, russia has lost from a quarter to a third of it. and forced to relocate its ships away from the occupied crimea. we are talking about this on bbc news ukraine i will make a living from london, i am evgenia shedlovska. the ukrainian military has been fighting russian forces in the black sea since the beginning of a full-scale invasion and drones. the latest developments play a key role in this. they are small, fast and invisible damaged more than one enemy ship. this is how it is. this video was released by the main intelligence directorate of the ministry of defense of ukraine. magura drones are said to have attacked. and

destroyed the russian patrol boat serhii kotov. it happened at night near the kerch strait, traffic on the kerch bridge was stopped for 8 hours. according to ukrainian intelligence , drones damaged serhiy kotov's stern and both sides. it is reported that among the russian military there were dead and wounded, but probably most of the crew, fifty people evacuated. this is information gur. russia does not officially comment on this, as in previous such attacks, serhii kotov. what kind of ship is this? patrol boat russia has four such corvettes, corvettes of this project. two other ukrainian naval forces have been attacked earlier, here is how they schematically show it, which is significant. serhii kotov is a new ship. it was launched in 2021 and joined the russian black sea fleet after russia launched a full-scale invasion. he entered in may 2022. and this is what he looks like up close. this is an archive video of the russian ministry.

of defense serhiy kotov, a ship with weapons , a radio electronic warfare system, guarding, protection of larger ships, patrolling, such tasks he could perform, and even potentially, such boats can be installed even launchers of kalibr cruise missiles, with which, among others, russia fired at ukraine. in general, serhii kotov, this boat became the 25th russian ship that ukrainian forces destroyed or damaged since the beginning of the full-scale. war, we will not list them all, plus one more submarine, these are the data of the armed forces. but how does this affect the balance of power in the black sea? here's what british columnist alexander lord says. so, this is just the latest attack in a very successful, it must be said, ukrainian naval counteroffensive that we have seen over the past six months. ground counterattack.

2023 failed to achieve its main strategic goals, but something completely different is happening at sea, where the ukrainians have clearly caused significant damage to the russian fleet. if this ship was indeed sunk, it would mean that russia lost about a quarter of its black sea surface fleet. this is significant the share of russian naval forces in this region, and this will have an impact not only on ukraine's ability to continue exporting grain. through the odesa ports, through the western black sea and to throw off the russian naval blockade, but of course it will also have an impact on russia's ability to use these warships to launch long-range cruise missiles at targets in ukraine, which has been happening throughout the war. so, according to estimates, russia has lost a quarter of its black sea fleet, unleashing...a full-scale war against

of ukraine. and as late as last fall, western observers noted that russia transferred part of the ships from the occupied crimea to its territory to novorossiysk, which is the krasnodar region of russia, and in addition plans to create a permanent naval base in the self-proclaimed abkhazia. we will talk about this later, and now we are in touch with the former deputy chief of staff of the naval forces of ukraine, andriy ryzhenko. i welcome you on the air, but russian ships have no protection against ukrainian drones, even if they to notice they can't do anything, so the mosquito fleet defeats a bigger opponent? but look, russia is building a certain defense system in crimea, especially in the base points against such means as sea, air drones and cruise missiles, which recently the armed forces of ukraine have been using in combination, as such packs, and very successfully. and especially this defense is very

powerful, let's say, in classic basing points, it's sevastopol, it's feodosia, it's kerch, novorossiysk, but, well, it must be said that the armed forces. of ukraine, they are every time they look for and find such weak points in this defense, and deliver such a powerful maneuverable strike, and it must also be said that this magura drone, it has recently been modernized and its combat part has been strengthened, if before in the event of an attack, it only damaged ships of such a class as, well, today, for example, that patrol. the kotov ship, now it is already destroying such ships, and this is if, well, very positive, now russia has minimally reduced all its combat training measures, the exits of ships to the seas, precisely because, well, we

we, the armed forces of ukraine, manage to find precisely these weak points, to strike, although there are such needs, if... at the beginning of the war , the russians had 10-40 ships at sea every day, now there are days when not a single ship is at sea , and this is, in principle, the reason for this precisely because of the action of such asymmetric forces, and indeed these unmanned vehicles can be, let's say, the lowest segment of the mosquito fleet, which, i think, in the future will still be built with the help of the naval one. .. of the coalition, precisely, which is being created with the leadership of the royal of the british navy and we are very grateful for that. and even last year , observers said that the black sea fleet of russia is like a driven animal, it is wounded, but

still dangerous, so what is its state now? well, look, really, about a third of the combat staff, i want to emphasize, namely... of the russian black sea fleet , 2/3 of them are damaged or destroyed, they can actually perform tasks, the most valuable ships, including all missile ships and submarines, they are in novorossiysk, indeed they shoot rockets very rare, i think they are just saving them for the reason that they are not producing a lot of them now, but according to intelligence they still have at least 88 missiles on those ships that are located in novorossiya and in the ports of the caspian sea, and the second task is to block the black sea, and now i want to remind you that russia, in principle, continues to block the northwestern part of the black

sea, and this open sea, mainly thanks to the powerful means that are in crimea, this is aviation, this is a coastal missile system and... on missile ships that are hiding in bases in crimea under the protection of air defense systems that are based in the western helm, mainly these are s-400 systems and tanks, but now shipping there is not, they are really trying to influence that corridor, which was opened almost recently, like more than six months ago, along the black sea coast. western and it works quite actively, but it satisfies maybe a fifth of ukraine's needs, but it's good that it works. well and the third task that the black sea fleet can still perform is limited, it is amphibious operations, they now have eight

amphibious ships out of 13 that they had at the beginning of the war, and these eight ships, they can still ensure the landing of battalions and tactical ones. .. group, although there are currently no conditions for this on the coast, but nevertheless , they keep these ships on standby, and the armed forces of ukraine must constantly monitor this and constantly take countermeasures in order to prevent such a possibility, that is, in fact spraying of the russian fleet by the black sea does not affect its combat capability, well... it probably affects it, but let's say the potential that was at the beginning of the war, of course they don't have it, but they can perform a certain task, mainly because is due to the fact that their potential, let's say their number is now much more than the armed

forces of ukraine for action at sea. thank you, mr. andriy, andriy ryzhenko was with us on the air. it makes sense to a point. the russian black sea fleet is now under serious pressure. ukraine claims to have destroyed or damaged 27 russians. vessels, including warships . the base in abkhazia is located almost 650 km from crimea. this is a potential shelter for the russian fleet. but at the same time, it creates a new security threat in the black sea region. in 2014, when vladimir putin annexed crimea, such a threat to the russian black sea fleet was unimaginable. the sea plays a fundamental role in putin's thinking, in how he sees russia's dominance in the

region. of course, this means that russia does not will simply have this base, it will use it to attack ukraine. i think that if russia wants to involve georgia in this war, and it will be in her interests, she will do it. to the south of russian-controlled abkhazia is the georgian city of anaklia. once upon a time in this city. big plans, but stormy times have come. georgians are worried that due to russia's plans to set up a military base just a few kilometers from here, the russian-ukrainian war will come close to their doorstep and jeopardize the plans of this country to become a major trade and logistics base between china and the west. in 2017, with the help of western investors, georgia began to build. if completed, it would significantly increase the volume of trade between asia and

europe through the so-called middle corridor bypassing russia, and the kremlin has insisted that us military submarines will be based here. in 2020, the georgian government terminated the agreement. the case was referred to the international court of justice, and mamuka khazaradze, who headed the project, went into politics. a very big problem with this government, because it persists the interests of russia, because the construction of a port in anaklia is not in the interests of russia, and as a proof of this you see that a naval base is being built 20 km from anaklia in chamchir. the government says it plans to resume construction of the port and denies accusations of protecting russian interests. but he admits, georgia is under constant threat from its northern neighbor. in the last 30 years we have had three wars with russia. if something happens, we will be left alone in

the fight against russia. we are not under the safe protection of a national umbrella. we we do not have economic solidarity with the european union. but what georgia did get is the status of a candidate for joining the eu. like ukraine, it considers itself a victim of russian aggression. although ukraine's military successes in the black sea have demonstrated russia's vulnerability. the construction of a new russian military base on the occupied territory of georgia demonstrates that russia continues to dominate the region. and ukrainian drones demonstrated the vulnerability of the russian black sea fleet, ukraine pushed the russian fleet and unblocked the transport corridor. in ports around odessa, such successes of the ukrainian armed forces in the war at sea. i say goodbye to you until tomorrow, see you.

you are watching the verdict on espresso program, we wish serhiy orodenko a speedy recovery, he will return to you, today i, roman chaika, am spending this evening with you, and see more in our program. reformatting of the government. shmyhal announced a reduction in the number of ministries by a third, which authorities . can be put under the knife. the final ban on moscow churches. the profile

committee recommends the parliament to adopt government bill. why is the vote postponed? a year of negotiations on joining the eu. ukraine expects a negotiation framework until march 12. how is the integration with the defense complex going? we will talk about this and other things, but we will remind you that we are collecting your opinions in response to... a question from prime minister shmyhal: do you support reducing the number of ministries by a third, if you think so, then call us on the first phone number where you can see us. on the screen yes, but no, in red, this is the second phone number, we have intermediate ones the results are 80 to 20. 80% of our viewers who have already voted believe that this is what my guests think . of information policy and vice-president

of the osce parliamentary assembly nikita poturaev. mr. nikita, we congratulate you. congratulations, and also with us will be the people's deputy from the batkivshchyna faction, the first deputy chairman of the verkhovna rada committee on energy and housing and communal affairs oleksiy kucherenko. mr. oleksiy, good evening to you too. good evening, i congratulate you, glory to ukraine. glory to heroes. so, first of all , i will ask you how you perceived how to see the implementation of this idea from prime minister denys shmyhal. in march, as part of the government reform, he announced that they plan to reduce the number of ministries by a third, that they plan to transfer part of the powers of the ministries not to other ministries, even to other state structures, so mr. nikita, you should probably start, mr. oleksandr, you will simply pick up, because some from ours today

guest experts questioned this initiative at this time and consider it not very effective. nokito, and what do you say in response to such reproaches? it is difficult for me to comment on this, because today our committee was engaged in the adoption of two very important laws, one of which you mentioned, after that i constantly began to work with communication on this law, because there are attacks on it in the west by lobbyists, generously paid , but we can talk about it separately, regarding this initiative, i... always support the optimization of the state apparatus, we have had it for years, this is a chronic disease of ours, state expenditures are much higher than the level of state expenditures of developed countries, but we must look at the prospect of this reform, yes, because

in fact we in the verkhovna rada, with mr. oleksiy and other colleagues, will vote for the appointment new ministers, we are in this sense. we do not approve new ministries, but we will definitely vote for new ministers, so we have to wait for certain details, so we will talk about the details, we will also be joined in the conversation by a people's deputy of ukraine from the european solidarity, she is presenting the parliamentary committee on foreign policy and inter-parliamentary cooperation, iryna gerashchenko is also with us, mrs. iryna, we are glad to see you, good evening, glory to ukraine, glory to the heroes, glad to see each other, by now you will already hear, what are we talking about ? from

to save money, what can turn out to be drying up, oozing, resulting in even more people than there were. thank you for your permission in brief, first of all, i thank prime minister denys shmigal for his courage, he admitted that the government is inefficient and needs optimization and more efficient work, it was long overdue to do this, because we constantly talked about it professionally , this is not politics, this is professional, as a former government official, i am ready to explain on my fingers what is wrong with the government structure, secondly, i do not see any reform itself yet... i see, i see some such idea, which will certainly cause such enthusiasm among the people, because of course the people always like it when officials are beaten, reduced, everything behind it is wonderful, does it mean that it is not a professional government, if the number of ministries is reduced, the number of government officials there, that it will work

more efficiently, it means absolutely nothing, it simply means nothing, so i approach it exclusively as a... well , for now, this is a pr campaign, then the government is ready to discuss professionally, i am ready in my own way segment, so to speak, where i understand, look, as far as these are professional statements, for now i do not perceive it differently, ms. irina, but what is your opinion about this idea, why am i asking, because we have already interviewed many of the guests today, here are the people , for example, our viewers support, 80% of those who called us, support us. the idea of ​​reducing the mini-ministries in the government by a third, but whether or not it was better to go the way that was talked about a lot and simply... create a government with such technocrats, i don't know, national unity, but at least technocrats for the time of war. i'll start on a positive note, i also welcome the decision

today 's humanitarian policy committee unanimously supported the bill prepared for the second reading, and we will continue to talk about it now, regarding the liquidation, well, my colleague began, it is simply very important, regarding the liquidation of the moscow church, because we are talking about threats to national security. and to be honest, i would really like for us to start considering this draft law in the parliament tomorrow, we were ready, despite the fact that there are more than a thousand amendments, i understand from the opzzh, but we were ready for a couple of days there, even at night sit down, that's the question to decide, and i cannot understand how it is possible , you know, to liquidate the plenary session in half a day, although the conciliatory session has already passed and the whole world, as far as the government is concerned, was scurrying , you know, if shmy's government were to be liquidated... i think the country would and didn't really notice, because the president's office actually runs the country today, no one knows what shmyhal himself looks like, because in

the parliament, for example, for the last hour he looks good like charles michel, like charles michel, and charles michel is more often in parliament than shmyhal, because we are in the last he was seen in september of last year, and we were just demanding the return of question hour to the government, we hoped it would be on march 8. but as i understand it, shmygal and others decided to celebrate march 8 there, you know, on march 8, and stefanchuk, because they canceled the parliamentary sessions on that day. if you are serious , it is obvious that in the conditions of war, when every state penny is in the account, optimization of the civil service, other processes, it can be considered as an option, but not in this issue, here really, when the government does not have a third of the ministers there and they have performing duties. when no one understands what the government is doing, it is just an imitation of turbulent activity, just like an imitation of turbulent activity, when the majority tells me that there will be no parliament meeting tomorrow, because they

are going somewhere not in threes, but in dozens, to inspect something there, that boisterous activity is not work, in fact we really need to reformat the monomajority and reformat the government of national unity and not engage in imitation of boisterous activity. and the solution of these complex issues that are facing us today inside the country, and outside, when we talk about strengthening the protection of ukraine and strengthening the provision of assistance to us. yes, well, i collected all your opinions, our viewers, professional viewers, they heard all of you, everyone will draw their own conclusions, although we continue to collect opinions on our survey. mr. nikita, so now to that draft law, i.e. to the second reading of the committee. adopted everything that was relevant, and here it was very interesting to see how your committee, which worked through everything and the law even became much cooler than

was proposed by the government in the first reading, and unanimously, and accordingly, we will remind you that this is a law that ukraine needed in 1991, but it is better late than never, to ban the activities of the russian orthodox church. in all its dimensions and forms, we have the ukrainian orthodox church of the moscow order of lenin of the patriarchate, and they can still think of something there, some other affiliates, in a word, we read what the committee proposes, it is great, now it stands the question is whether he will pass the top of the hall, whether there will be enough votes, and here and then, later there will be a second question regarding the so-called lobbyists, because andryusha derkach is not there, but his business of the moscow patriarchate is alive, mr. nikita, tell me how, what will be

the fate of the second reading? well, it will definitely not be easy, but i believe that this is just one of those laws that can bring back consensus and mutual understanding and a working atmosphere to the verkhovna rada, so i hope that at the end of march, well maybe... at the beginning of april, because it is not clear how long the new mobilization law will take and when it will be considered or the 20th, or maybe a little later, but this law should definitely come up for consideration, and i hope that we will have enough votes to support it already in the second reading, that it went to the signature of the president, that as for that, that 's as for... the review, and as for the lobbyists , i'm ready now, but maybe now better colleagues will add something else, okay, we

'll talk about the lobbyists then, now for the second time, i want to hear it. and ms. iryna and ms. oleksiyu, what is the sentiment regarding this draft law, will your factions vote unanimously, mr. oleksiy, you are already moving, as we were moving in order, the homeland fully supports what the profile committee supported, mr. roman, we live in a civilized state, are we approaching it, yes, well, at least we should see what is there on the second reading, yes, well, we can’t do this parsnip... but, but i’m against it, yes, i hope that our colleagues from the relevant specialized committee, which is headed by mr. potoraev, professionally worked out the bill for the second reading , and i myself am interested to see how exactly these will be there the criteria, which for me today, for any patriotically convinced ukrainian , are absolutely unambiguous, any organization,

religious, public. there is another one that is hostile to ukraine , the harshest sanctions should definitely be applied to it, including a ban and so on and the like, the key question here is who and in what way will determine this hostility on the basis of which criteria, because of course we understand that everything is going on, mr. oleksiy, in my opinion, we are in, well, this is definitely a long time question probably ripe. but the temptation to declare any organization as such after that will, unfortunately, always be present. we see certain tendencies towards authoritarianism that currently exist in the country. therefore , i am happy to read this draft law for the second reading. i have my own personal position, i think that the faction will make an absolutely pro-ukrainian state decision, as well as colleagues from the eu. the only thing, i would like to draw your attention to is that all

the last... votes for the last year and a half there are effective, they take place in such a new coalition in the composition, let's not he is offended, dear mr. paturaev, i respect him, but the servants of the people survived without 35 votes, they do not vote for a single one, well, in principle, such a controversial draft law is for the last, but let’s look, we can even see what it leads to, what i lead to i am leading in this bill for these votes. the servants will not have to calculate exactly, okay, but you will vote, i understand that you will vote differently, and then there will be no need to hope, i sincerely hope that we will take the correct pro-ukrainian state position, thank you, mrs. iryna, and i on the other hand, on this question, it concerns the moscow order of lenin patriarchate, and there is a russian priest there, and one could safely call him a branch of the fsb, well,

two in particular. laurels are 100%, all the veterans of the sbu will confirm this to you, because they even know all those priests who came from transnistria, who came from moldova, who from russia, in what ranks and what shoots they wore, and in this case we always they emphasize, but there are also good priests in this uoc, mp, just, well, as they say, that's where they ended up, and in this case, won't it turn out that we, well, with this by law? will these good ones be punished somehow? and this law is not about the church, it is very important to convey it both inside the country and abroad, because it is indeed a russian hybrid war, it has not disappeared anywhere, and they continue to tell fables about the fact that ukraine attacked ukraine.