The naval war for Ukraine has received relatively little attention in the open press. Exceptions include the now-debunked story on the Snake Island Defenders and occasional reports of Russian ships shelling the Black Sea coast. The lion’s share of analysis focuses on the Russian Army’s stalled campaign in northern Ukraine. This likely reflects two factors: the greater risk for western journalists who might otherwise choose to work in the country’s eastern region and the apparent desire of the mainstream media to highlight good news and human rights violations rather than Ukrainian military losses.

The lack of naval-focused media coverage results from the greater difficulty of providing news coverage at sea and the relative lack of hopeful news about the Ukrainian Navy. Identifying and tracking Russian warships at sea is a challenging assignment. TikTok and Twitter do not have the same reach off the coast of Crimea as they do in Kyiv. Lack of coverage, however, does not mean a lack of importance. Just as the scale of the land war aspect has exceeded early expectations, so too has the naval front.