[1/2] An infrared overview of damaged aircraft at Saki Airbase after attack, in Novofedorivka, Crimea August 10, 2022 . Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERSLONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Blasts at the Saky air base in the annexed Crimean peninsula earlier this month have put more than half of the Russian Black Sea fleet's naval aviation combat jets out of use, a Western official said on Friday. "We now assess that the events of Saky airfield on August 9 put more than half of Black Sea fleet's naval aviation combat jets out of use," the official said. On Aug. 12, Britain's Ministry of Defence said in its intelligence update that while a fraction of Russia's air fleet was destroyed in the blast, the navy's air capability was seriously degraded. read moreThe official said the Black Sea fleet was struggling to function much more than "a coast defence flotilla" which just occasionally conducted missile strikes, and that its attempt to threaten amphibious assault on Odessa had been stymied.

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