Russia has deployed trained military dolphins to protect a Black Sea naval base during its invasion of Ukraine, according to analysis of satellite images.

The US Naval Institute examined satellite imagery captured by Maxar Technologies of Sevastopol, Crimea, and found two dolphin pens have been placed by the Russian Navy at the harbour of the major port city.

They were moved there in February – around the time Russia launched its attack on its neighbour.

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Animals in marine mammal programmes are trained to perform tasks such as mine detection, ship and harbour protection, and to find enemy combat divers.

“This could prevent Ukrainian special operations forces from infiltrating the harbour underwater to sabotage warships,” said the USNI News report.

It is unclear whether Ukraine has planned any such operations targeting Sevastopol, it said.

While several of the Russian ships at the base are out of range of Ukrainian missiles, they are potentially vulnerable to “undersea sabotage”, according to the report.

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The Russian Navy has operated such a programme in Sevastopol since the Cold War, with the units being transferred to the Ukrainian armed forces following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the report said.

The units came under Russian Navy control following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the programmes have been expanded since, it added.

The US is also known to run its own marine mammal programme.

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