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Ukraine’s asymmetric naval campaign—dubbed "Operation MoLoChKa"—has systematically disabled 300 vessels from Russia's shadow fleet across the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov in just 11 weeks. Spearheaded by the Unmanned Systems Forces, the strategy utilizes precision aerial and maritime Magura drones to disable oil tankers, ferries, and tugboats by targeting their steering mechanisms and control bridges rather than sinking them, preventing ecological catastrophes while crippling fuel supply lines. By turning critical waterways and ports like Novorossiysk into chokepoints, Ukraine has restricted Russian energy exports, induced severe fuel shortages in occupied Crimea, and effectively severed Moscow’s maritime supply lines.
⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Operation MoLoChKa Targets Russian Shadow Fleet
01:08 - Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Strike 300 Tankers
02:18 - Black Sea and Sea of Azov Blockade
03:32 - Shipping Companies Suspend Port of Novorossiysk
04:46 - Kremlin Calls Ukrainian Anti-Tanker Drone Attacks Piracy
06:02 - Russian Shadow Fleet Circumvents Oil Price Cap
07:18 - Seaborne Oil Export Revenue Drops 32 Percent
08:34 - Crimea Fuel Rationing and Energy Grid Blackouts
09:50 - Magura V7 Drones Surgical Precision Ship Strikes
11:06 - Black Sea Fleet Warships Confined to Novorossiysk
12:20 - Russian Baltic Sea Oil Export Rerouting
13:36 - Kerch Strait Maritime Supply Lines Disrupted
14:52 - Unmanned Aerial and Sea Drone Operations
16:08 - Moscow Will Fall Across Crimea Strategy
16:54 - Is Crimea Isolated from Russian Oil Supplies?
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SOURCES: https://pastes.io/KH2C31qp
Ukraine’s asymmetric naval campaign—dubbed "Operation MoLoChKa"—has systematically disabled 300 vessels from Russia's shadow fleet across the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov in just 11 weeks. Spearheaded by the Unmanned Systems Forces, the strategy utilizes precision aerial and maritime Magura drones to disable oil tankers, ferries, and tugboats by targeting their steering mechanisms and control bridges rather than sinking them, preventing ecological catastrophes while crippling fuel supply lines. By turning critical waterways and ports like Novorossiysk into chokepoints, Ukraine has restricted Russian energy exports, induced severe fuel shortages in occupied Crimea, and effectively severed Moscow’s maritime supply lines.
⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Operation MoLoChKa Targets Russian Shadow Fleet
01:08 - Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Strike 300 Tankers
02:18 - Black Sea and Sea of Azov Blockade
03:32 - Shipping Companies Suspend Port of Novorossiysk
04:46 - Kremlin Calls Ukrainian Anti-Tanker Drone Attacks Piracy
06:02 - Russian Shadow Fleet Circumvents Oil Price Cap
07:18 - Seaborne Oil Export Revenue Drops 32 Percent
08:34 - Crimea Fuel Rationing and Energy Grid Blackouts
09:50 - Magura V7 Drones Surgical Precision Ship Strikes
11:06 - Black Sea Fleet Warships Confined to Novorossiysk
12:20 - Russian Baltic Sea Oil Export Rerouting
13:36 - Kerch Strait Maritime Supply Lines Disrupted
14:52 - Unmanned Aerial and Sea Drone Operations
16:08 - Moscow Will Fall Across Crimea Strategy
16:54 - Is Crimea Isolated from Russian Oil Supplies?
Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join
#militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis
#themilitaryshow
SOURCES: https://pastes.io/KH2C31qp
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NewsTranscript
00:01For months you've been hearing about what Ukraine has been doing in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
00:06Strike after strike against oil tankers and ferries loaded with supplies,
00:11all designed to cut off Crimea and make those two seas impossible for Russia to use.
00:16Now we know more about Ukraine's insane genius operation.
00:20Ukraine has been milking Russia dry for months with its insane milk strategy.
00:26Operation Molochka is here, and the name tells us everything that we need to know about what Ukraine is doing.
00:33Molochka hasn't been chosen at random.
00:35In both Russian and Ukrainian, Molochka is a colloquial term for milk and other dairy products.
00:41So when Ukraine says that Operation Molochka has been milking Russia dry,
00:45it means in the most literal sense of the word.
00:48The results speak for themselves.
00:50But before we share them, we're real people producing researched and fact-checked military reporting.
00:55If you want to support that, subscribe, share your thoughts below,
00:58and consider becoming a member for exclusive content we don't publish publicly.
01:03In an operation that has lasted for 11 weeks and counting,
01:07Ukraine's drones have destroyed hundreds of the ancient oil tankers that Russia uses to transport fuel and oil to Crimea,
01:14and in many cases, through the Kerch Strait and into the wider world.
01:18We mean hundreds literally.
01:20300 Shadow Fleet vessels have been tracked down and disabled,
01:24the commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, Robert Brovdy, declared in a September 22nd Facebook post.
01:31Brovdy came bearing receipts.
01:33Specifically, a video showcasing strike after strike was shared by Brovdy,
01:37demonstrating just how impactful Ukraine's drones, both aerial and maritime, have been in the Black Sea and the Sea of
01:44Azov.
01:45Brovdy continued, adding,
01:47The 300 Fleet, a suitcase without a handle, and a drain on the worm-sized budget.
01:52The Sea of Azov stands, and will stand, together with the Kerch Strait.
01:57There's more to the name than just milk.
01:59Operation Malochka is also a backronym, reports the Kyiv post.
02:03It stands for Moscow will lie across Crimea.
02:06And that gives us a massive hint about why Ukraine has launched this operation.
02:10But we'll get to that later.
02:12Digging deeper into the results that Brovdy shared, Ukraine's milking operation has clearly been extremely effective.
02:18Most of the damage was done during the early portion of the operation.
02:22By July 17th, just 11 days into an operation that started on July 6th,
02:27Ukraine was reporting that it had destroyed 159 of Russia's Shadow Fleet vessels.
02:31The objective was made clear by that point,
02:34as Ukraine noted that it was using its drones to destroy Russia's maritime logistics.
02:38If it transported oil, it went down.
02:41The same went for any ship that was found to be transporting fuel, cargo, and other supplies,
02:46which resulted in more than tankers being targeted by Ukraine.
02:49Commercial ferries, which had been commandeered by Russia and turned into makeshift military transports,
02:55also started coming under fire.
02:57So did tugboats and any other types of vessel that Ukraine believed served in a supporting role.
03:02This early stage of milking the Shadow Fleet dry amounted to an impressive average of around 14 to 15 strikes
03:09per day.
03:11After that, things started to slow down just a little bit for Operation Malochka.
03:15But Ukraine still had plenty of pain in store for Russia.
03:18By early August, Ukraine had struck a total of 218 Shadow Fleet vessels,
03:23including 12 during the first week of the month.
03:26Most were hit in the Sea of Azov, which accounted for 134 of Russia's ship losses versus 84 in the
03:32Black Sea.
03:33However, this period also marked the point where Ukraine seems to have decided to switch its focus.
03:38By the time Brovdy was reporting on 300 Shadow Fleet vessels struck, the tally was 166 tankers in the Black
03:45Sea.
03:45The number in the Sea of Azov remained the same, hinting at the fact that Ukraine's campaign had been so
03:50effective
03:50that Russia was trying to avoid that sea at all costs.
03:54What we're seeing here is a brilliant asymmetric blockade that Ukraine has put in place.
03:59A country with no navy has essentially transformed the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov,
04:03along with the Kerch Strait, into no-go zones for Russia's Shadow.
04:07And as you'll soon discover, it's done it through the brilliant use of drone technology that Russia never saw coming.
04:14Operation Malochka is having the exact impact that Ukraine wanted.
04:17The goal was to milk Russia dry by sapping its Shadow Fleet's ability to transport oil and supplies,
04:23thus essentially milking that oil out of Russian circulation.
04:27We've seen that happening during the last 11 weeks.
04:30As Euromiden Press reported on September 22nd,
04:33several shipping companies have started to suspend bookings that would bring their vessels within range of Ukraine's operation.
04:39Among them is MSC, Mediterranean Shipping Company, which is the world's largest container carrier.
04:45Toward the end of August, that carrier suspended all bookings for transport through the Russian port of Novorossiysk,
04:51which is Russia's key link into the seas that Ukraine has been targeting.
04:55Novorossiysk has essentially become a choke point due to Ukraine's strategy.
04:59Ukraine has been hitting the warships Russia has been forced to station there,
05:02as it did on August 12th, when it hit four in a single night.
05:06These strikes send a clear message.
05:08The port is in Ukraine's sights, and it's a dangerous place to be if you're helping Russia export goods.
05:14The message is being heard loud and clear by shipping companies,
05:18leaving only those directly associated with the Shadow Fleet willing to take the risk.
05:22Even Russia itself has been forced into action.
05:25At the height of Ukraine's operation, Russia was forced to close the Donazov shipping channel,
05:29as well as the Kerch Strait, due to fear of more Ukrainian drones.
05:33Though those channels have since reopened, the ships sailing through them are still in danger.
05:38Ukraine has created uncertainty, even as its attacks become less frequent.
05:42The message has been sent, and the risk never truly goes away.
05:47Russia doesn't like being milked.
05:49The country's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, was decrying Operation Molochka as piracy from the very beginning.
05:55In fact, he somehow viewed it as lower than piracy.
05:58You know what the Ukrainian regime is doing isn't even piracy.
06:01Pirates at least steal for themselves.
06:04Here, they neither take anything for themselves nor let others have it.
06:07They simply want to inflict damage and spread fear.
06:09It's pure terrorism, he declared when quizzed about the operation on July 14th.
06:15Brovdy was quick to respond to that complete misunderstanding of what Ukraine was doing.
06:19No piracy, Lavrov. Just business. Yours. Bloody.
06:23Brovdy shot back.
06:24What Lavrov doesn't say is that Russia knows exactly why Ukraine is doing this.
06:29Theft was never the point.
06:30Taking away the things that Russia relies upon both to keep Crimea under control and to ensure that cash continues
06:36to flow into the Kremlin coffers was always what this was about.
06:39And the Kremlin should know that better than anyone.
06:41Russia has its own long history of striking merchant ships in the very bodies of water that Ukraine now targets
06:47with the world's most explosive milking operation.
06:50From the very beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has targeted Ukrainian merchant vessels, particularly those carrying grain.
06:57Russia established a blockade of Ukrainian ports in 2022, causing a global spike in food prices and, according to the
07:04New York Times, placing 70 million people at risk of acute food insecurity.
07:09Russia has relented on this blockade due to international pressure.
07:13But what the likes of Lavrov won't tell you is that Operation Malochka didn't come out of nowhere.
07:18Between June and July of this year, Russian forces attacked at least 50 cargo ships, killing 30 civilians in the
07:25process.
07:26If Lavrov wants to talk about terrorism, he should first ask the Kremlin why it was targeting civilian vessels.
07:32Look at the dates. Russia's attacks started in June, before Operation Malochka was launched.
07:37In a way, we could see the milking of Russia's Shadow Fleet as revenge for what Russia was already doing.
07:43However, there is also a big difference between what Ukraine targets and what Russia is hitting in the Black Sea
07:48and the Sea of Azov.
07:50Russia strikes civilian vessels, merchant ships that have no motive other than getting their goods to where they need to
07:56go.
07:56Russia would argue that the same applies to the ships it's been losing. Russia would be lying.
08:01Ukraine isn't hitting legitimate merchant vessels in Operation Malochka.
08:05It's taking out Shadow Fleet ships that Russia has purchased specifically to circumvent global sanctions, so it can keep on
08:12making money to fund Putin's invasion.
08:14The Shadow Fleet is a shady collection of ropey old oil tankers, many of them well past their sell-by
08:20dates, that Russia uses to transport its energy cargoes.
08:23These ships often sail under different flags and engage in tactics such as shutting off tracking devices that are supposed
08:30to make them difficult to trace as they make their journeys.
08:33Russia has hundreds of these ships.
08:35Windward says as many as 1,300 vessels are part of a dark fleet, which directly engages in practices like
08:42ID and location tracking.
08:44Another 1,000 are part of the Grey Fleet, which uses flag-hopping to deliberately obscure ownership.
08:51So when Lavrov tries to claim piracy or terrorism, he's comparing apples to oranges.
08:56Russia hits legitimate merchant vessels, while Ukraine takes out Shadow Fleet ships that only exist to support Putin's insane war.
09:03The impact of Operation Malochka is being felt all over Russia, but before we dig deeper, you're watching The Military
09:09Show.
09:09There's more where this comes from, so make sure you subscribe and enable notifications if you're getting value from our
09:15channel.
09:16There is always one overriding reason why Ukraine takes out Russian oil facilities and tankers.
09:22It wants to cause as much economic pain as possible.
09:26The latest revelations about Operation Malochka come out of a time when Russia's fossil fuel export revenue is declining.
09:32According to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, or CREA, Russia's fossil fuel exports declined by 8
09:39% in August month-on-month.
09:41Seaborne crude oil exports were hit hard, as their volumes fell by 13% during the month.
09:47That just accounts for volume.
09:49On the revenue front, a 13% decline in crude oil exports amounts to a 32% decline in seaborne
09:55oil export revenue, as the lower volume collided with declining oil prices.
10:00Ukraine's intensifying campaign has also made it much harder for Russia to ship oil out of Novorossiysk.
10:06CREA says that August saw Russia stop loading oil at the port for nine consecutive days, contributing to a 58
10:12% decline in loadings when compared to July.
10:15Russia has been forced to increase oil shipments from its Baltic Sea ports in response to Ukraine's operation.
10:21That alone tells us just how much control, or more accurately, the lack thereof that Russia exercises in the Black
10:27Sea region.
10:28But while we're seeing pain inflicted on Putin's invasion pocketbook, it's Crimea that is really feeling the pinch.
10:34A huge part of why Ukraine launched Operation Malochka was to feed into its ongoing strategy to isolate Crimea and
10:42wrest the illegally annexed peninsula out of Putin's grasp.
10:45The maritime connections that Ukraine is turning into a no-go zone for Russian ships are the most important lifeline
10:52that the Kremlin has for sustaining its Crimean forces.
10:55That's according to Pravda, which says that Ukraine's strikes on the Kerch bridge have already forced Russia to cease the
11:01transport of military hardware and supplies over that bridge.
11:05Instead, Russia uses ships, ferries and river-sea-class oil tankers, which keep what Crimea needs flowing into the peninsula.
11:13Ukraine's strategy is simple here. The more of the Russian shadow fleet that can be taken out of commission in
11:17the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov,
11:19the harder it becomes for Russia to maintain uninterrupted fuel supplies to the peninsula.
11:24And that's exactly what we've been seeing.
11:27Crimea has been in the grip of a fuel crisis for months now as a result of Operation Malochka,
11:32but also of a mid-range campaign against Russian logistics in occupied Ukrainian territory and strikes that are being carried
11:39out in Crimea itself.
11:41Fuel rationing has been in place for months on the peninsula, gas stations are only allowed to sell fuel for
11:464 hours per day,
11:47and customers are limited to 20-30 litres per car, depending on the region.
11:52Crimean authorities have even instituted a license plate system through which cars with plates ending in odd numbers can get
11:58fuel one day,
11:59followed by those with even numbers the next.
12:02Euromiden Press adds that alongside Operation Malochka, Ukraine has been running Operation Crimean Switch-Off.
12:08Launched at the same time as Ukraine started milking Russia's shadow fleet,
12:12this operation focuses on taking out energy nodes all over Crimea, plunging the occupiers into darkness.
12:18Operation Crimean Switch-Off has been successful.
12:22374 energy nodes across occupied Crimea and the other occupied territories of Ukraine have been shut down as of September
12:2910th,
12:30leading to Crimea experiencing repeated blackouts.
12:33Still questions have to be asked.
12:35At first glance, what Ukraine is doing in Operation Malochka seems like it could be an environmental disaster.
12:41Oil tankers are being targeted.
12:43Does that mean we're seeing a whole lot of Russian crude oil and fuel spilling into the sea as a
12:47result of these strikes?
12:49No.
12:50Precision has been the name of the game for Ukraine during the entire operation,
12:54and it's gone to great pains to disable Russia's ships without destroying them to the point where their cargo spills
12:59into the Black Sea or the Sea of Azov.
13:01Pravda reveals more in its August 1st report on Ukraine's strategy of disrupting Russia's maritime logistics.
13:08Strikes aren't being carried out against the ship's hulls, and they're not being launched with the intention of sinking Russia's
13:14ships.
13:14Rather, as Mikhailo Honchar, who is the president of the Strategy 21 Center for Global Studies, points out,
13:21Ukraine is surgical with its strikes.
13:23Tankers are targeted with surgical precision.
13:25If a naval drone is used, it strikes the propeller and rudder assembly at the stern, causing the vessel to
13:31lose maneuverability, he says.
13:33The Magura series of sea drones is usually the star of the show here.
13:37The Magura V-7, in particular, has a range of up to 1,500 kilometers and a top speed of
13:42at least 39 knots.
13:44It can catch a creaking Shadow Fleet tanker easily.
13:47And when it does, it can destroy the tanker's propeller and rudder assembly in a kamikaze strike or deploy aerial
13:54drones to carry out attacks.
13:55If Ukraine uses aerial drones, we see a similar level of accuracy and proficiency.
14:00If the attack is carried out by an aerial drone, the target is the bridge where the ship's controls are
14:05concentrated.
14:06The vessel is put out of action and requires repairs, Honcharat.
14:10This is the genius of Ukraine's strategy.
14:13The ships that it hits aren't destroyed, but they're still rendered inoperable.
14:16Left adrift, they have to be towed back to shore by Russia, which costs time and resources.
14:21Russia then has to try to repair the ships, which isn't an easy task.
14:25Remember, most of these ships are old tankers and other non-standard vessels.
14:30Finding the parts needed for repairs would be hard enough at the best of times, but it often becomes impossible
14:34for Russia due to sanctions.
14:36Often, Russia is forced to replace its broken vessels with other ships, which then become new targets for Operation Malochka.
14:43Everything we're seeing in Operation Malochka builds on what has come before in the Black Sea.
14:48If you're wondering why the once dreaded Black Sea Fleet hasn't been able to stop any of Ukraine's strikes,
14:53it's because Ukraine has rendered that fleet practically useless.
14:56Most of what's left of it is hiding away in Novorossiysk, which we already know Ukraine is targeting.
15:01The rest of the fleet is sunk or damaged.
15:03Ukraine has contained the Black Sea Fleet by using a combination of drones, both aerial and maritime, missiles and mines.
15:10Russia's warships aren't in the Black Sea anymore and that means they can't be used to protect Shadow Fleet vessels.
15:16If Russia tried, more Black Sea Fleet warships would go down.
15:20In fact, a September 23rd report by Defense Express reveals that Russia only has two cruise missile ships left in
15:27the Black Sea,
15:28along with a pair of submarines that don't see much use.
15:30Other missile cruisers such as the Admiral Essen and the Admiral Makarov have been victims of Ukrainian strikes,
15:37rendering them in need of repair.
15:38Russia has no real Black Sea power anymore.
15:42It's been rendered toothless by a country that doesn't even have a name.
15:46The only question left is, what comes next?
15:50We mentioned earlier that what we've seen from Ukraine during Operation Malochka is the creation of an asymmetric naval blockade.
15:56Ukraine likely wants to build on what it's achieved so far.
15:59Oil tankers were the focus of the first few weeks of the operation, but bulk carriers may be the next
16:04targets.
16:05Ukraine wants to gain fire control over the eastern part of the Black Sea and then build out from there.
16:10Right now, Crimea is the worst impacted by Ukraine's milking of the Shadow Fleet.
16:15The goal for the future is likely to expand the scope to the point where the ships responsible for exporting
16:20Russia's oil and cargo
16:21refuse to sail through the Kerch Strait.
16:24That will force more reliance on Russia's Baltic ports.
16:27And that means attempting to get more Shadow Fleet ships through the Baltic Sea,
16:31which is surrounded on all sides by NATO member nations.
16:34The strategy may be that what Ukraine can't destroy in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov could be targeted
16:40by its partners.
16:41On September 23, United 24 media reported that Ukraine had flagged 38 ships linked to Russia's Shadow Fleet,
16:4810 of which are not yet sanctioned by its partners.
16:50So we see a future approach becoming clearer.
16:53Operation Malochka will continue in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov,
16:57cutting off a vital financial lifeline for the Kremlin and feeding into the campaign to isolate Crimea.
17:03Elsewhere, Ukraine will track the Shadow Fleet it will find and report ships,
17:07ensuring that they can only sail under heavy sanctions.
17:10Disrupting Russia's maritime operations and revenue is the end goal.
17:14Operation Malochka has shown us that Ukraine is getting better and better at achieving what it wants to achieve.
17:20For Putin, the continued isolation of Crimea is the worst outcome of Operation Malochka.
17:26If you want to learn more about how Putin's greatest geopolitical victory is being transformed into his worst disaster
17:32by Ukraine, we have the perfect video for you.
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