Ukraine-Russia latest: Putin launches huge naval drills involving most of Russian fleet amid Black Sea losses

Russia has launched massive naval drills involving the majority of its fleet and personnel after it was forced to pull back resources from the Black Sea and Sea of Azov.

The exercises are set to involve more than 300 vessels from four different fleets and flotillas, as well as around 20,000 navy personnel, Russian state news agency Tass reported.

It comes after repeated Ukrainian strikes forced Russia to withdraw its Black Sea Fleet warships from bases in occupied Crimea and all of its vessels out of the Sea of Azov, a body of water connected to the Black Sea, in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky visited the frontline in Kharkiv on Monday to pay tribute to Kyiv’s special forces, which have been engaged in bitter fighting with Putin’s forces in the region since May.

And Germany has hit out at Vladimir Putin for warning of a brewing Cold War-style missile crisis in Europe, saying it would “not be intimidated” by Putin’s threat to station long-range missiles in striking distance of the West.