 Ukraine attacks on Russia's Black Sea Fleet support grain exports. A recent spate of destructive Ukrainian attacks on Russia's Black Sea Fleet may have as much to do with Ukraine's economic prospects as its military tactics according to insider publication. It is noted that Ukraine has managed to lay claim to parts of the disputed Black Sea after ramping up its assaults on Russia's naval fleet in recent weeks. The attacks have caused so much damage to Russian equipment and infrastructure in the occupied Crimean peninsula that British intelligence said this week Moscow's fleet was probably losing the ability to defend itself. The heightened activity in the Black Sea comes two months after Russia pulled out of an initiative brokered by the United Nations that allowed Ukraine to continue exporting tens of millions of tons of grain amid the war. In July, Russia said it would end the guarantee of shipping safety in the southwestern Black Sea, sending additional vessels to patrol the area and firing warning shots at a freighter last month as part of increasingly tense efforts to block Ukraine's economic exports. The key to the current spate of attacks in the Black Sea Fleet is the grain and wider exports issue. Simon Miles, an assistant professor at Duke's University-Sanford School of Public Policy, who is a historian of the Soviet Union and US-Soviet relations, told Insider, If Ukraine can't get grain out, its budgetary woes are even more grave, Miles said. In recent weeks, however, the country had established a new shipping corridor in the Black Sea that avoids Russia's port blockades, Ukraine's Navy said this week. Seven cargo vessels had successfully sailed the new route already, the country said. The New York Times cited analysts this week who said the new corridor's success might be thanks to Ukraine's newfound ability to target Russian warships and deter them from entering Ukrainian waters as well as the country's efforts to hamstring Russia's intelligence operations in the Black Sea.