On April 1, 2024, a Grigorovich class guided missile frigate undertook weapons handling activity at the Black Sea Fleet (BSF) facility, Novorossiysk port. Modern russian warships such as the Grigorovich class frigate have vertical launch systems for firing cruise missiles at sea and land targets. Such missiles have historically been reloaded in Sevastopol, Crimea, the UK Defense Intelligence reports.
The BSF has largely withdrawn its ships and submarines from Sevastopol further eastwards to Novorossiysk. Since the removal of the BSF commander in March 2024, the fleet has been the least active since the war began.
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Whilst the BSF almost certainly remains alongside Novorossiysk as its best method of avoiding Ukrainian sea-borne attack, its maintenance, logistics and weapons-handling infrastructure at Novorossiysk has highly likely been improved to support the new basing arrangements indefinitely.
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