In 1900, a Russian architect was commissioned to design a headquarters for the command of the Black Sea fleet, a symbol of the Russian Empire’s aspirations to be a muscular naval presence in the region.
Housed in the Crimean Peninsula port city of Sevastopol, the building served as a naval entertainment hall after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, before being destroyed during an epic World War II battle, then rebuilt in 1958 by the Soviet Union.
Even after the Soviet collapse, when Ukraine gained independence, Russia kept its Black Sea Fleet headquarters in what had suddenly become a foreign country. It was still there when Russia seized control of Crimea in 2014, and eight year later, when it launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine.
SEE ALSO: Ukraine Has No Navy. But It's Hammering Russia In The Black Sea.In September 2023, the building was heavily damaged by a cruise missile fired by Ukraine.
Now, it appears the building is gone entirely, razed to rubble by construction equipment this week, the last symbolic step that follows the evacuation of the Russian fleet to a safer harbor in Novorossiisk, on Russia’ Black Sea coast about 500 kilometers east.
Though unused following the 2023 missile attack, the building’s destruction serves as a metaphor for the diminished fortunes of the Russian Navy, and for the successes of the Ukrainian military in making that happen.
“The command and staff likely moved to Novorossiisk at the same time, since there was practically nothing left to command in Sevastopol and the rest of the fleet's Crimean bases: only old junk and damaged ships remained," one retired Ukrainian naval captain told RFE/RL’s Crimea.Realities.
A Storied City
The WWII Battle for Sevastopol has almost mythic status in Soviet and Russian military lore, giving the port emotional symbolism for generations of Russians -- and older Ukrainians as well.
Territorial control of Crimea was transferred to Ukraine in 1954 by Soviet authorities. With the Soviet breakup in 1991, the Soviet Black Sea navy was split between Ukraine and Russia – with the port of Sevastopol used by both countries’ fleets.
Russia occupied Crimea in early 2014, seizing control of all port facilities -- and most of Ukraine’s remaining ships as well.
The peninsula then served as a launchpad for some Russian forces during the full-scale of invasion in February 2022. Russia’s fleet all but imposed a blockade on Ukraine’s coastline and threatened its merchant marine and cargo fleet.
On April 14, 2022, nearly two months after the invasion, Ukraine sank the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet -- the guided-missile cruiser Moskva -- using two land-based Neptune anti-ship missiles.
Over the course of the next 24 months, Ukrainian forces quietly built out a campaign to target Russian ships, using Ukrainian land-based missiles, Western-supplied air-launched missiles, and homegrown unmanned maritime drones. Nearly two dozen warships were damaged or sunk.
Russian commanders quietly began relocating naval ships to Novorossiisk, where they were easier to defend.
'More Than Just A Building'
On September 13, 2023, Ukraine reportedly targeted two repair facilities in Sevastopol, using Western-supplied cruise missiles. A dry dock was damaged, as well as a diesel-powered submarine called the Rostov-On-Don.
SEE ALSO: Russia's Navy Has A Dry Dock Problem. Again.Nine days later, the Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol was hit with what appeared to be a cruise missile. It later turned out to be British-supplied Storm Shadow missile, fired by a Ukrainian Sukhoi jet fighter.
Ukraine claimed at least nine top officials in the Russian command had been killed, though that was never independently confirmed.
"The headquarters is more than just a building housing the offices of the fleet commander, the chief of staff, and other senior officers,” another retired naval captain who also served in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency told RFE/RL. “It is the central operational command body, ensuring combat and mobilization readiness, planning, intelligence, communications, and the day-to-day operations of all subordinate forces -- —ships, aircraft, and coastal troops -- in peacetime and wartime.”
In the aftermath of the attack, the headquarters building remained damaged and deserted. Months later, the top Russian occupation official in Sevastopol suggested the building’s future was up for discussion.
In December 2025, the building was removed from Russia's list of cultural heritage sites, a move that is only allowed “in the event of complete physical loss of a cultural heritage site,” according to Russian law.
Earlier this week, bystander video from Sevastopol showed excavators and construction equipment pulling down some of the still-standing structures at the site.
One unconfirmed report said some remaining Black Sea Fleet officers remained in Sevastopol, working out of a building housing command for naval aviation.