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The Ukrainian military claims that another Russian Navy landing ship has been attacked and destroyed, adding to a growing tally of Black Sea Fleet ships that have been taken out of commission. <\/p>\n
In a brief message Tuesday morning, the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that the Ropucha-class landing ship Novocherkassk <\/em>was destroyed in Feodosia, Crimea overnight. The AFU credited the attack to Ukrainian Air Force pilots. <\/p>\n "Crimea is Ukraine. There is no place for the occupier's fleet here," the AFU wrote. <\/p>\n The Russian defense ministry confirmed the strike in a statement to state media, and claimed that the two Ukrainian aircraft that launched the attack had been shot down.<\/p>\n The Russian-appointed governor of occupied Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, confirmed that there had been "explosions from detonations of ordnance" stored in the port area. Multiple bystander videos captured the event (below). <\/p>\n Russian navy has a staggering attrition rate pic.twitter.com\/WGmrYmWLjG<\/a><\/p>\n — Giorgi Revishvili (@revishvilig) December 26, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n NEW:<\/p>\n Ukraine carried out a massive attack on the port of Feodosia in occupied Crimea, destroying a major Russian Navy vessel, the landing Novocherkask ship. #SlavaUkraini<\/a> ????????????pic.twitter.com\/nbyaEYBUDZ<\/a><\/p>\n — Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) December 26, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n At 03:47 am Kyiv time on December 26 Lt-Gen Mykola Oleshchuk, Ukraine’s Air Force commander shared footage from Feodosia and reported that Ukrainian pilots destroyed the Russian Navy’s “Novocherkassk” large landing ship: — ukraine_defence (@ukrdefence) December 26, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n It is the latest in a long string of Ukrainian strikes on the Russian Navy, and the accumulated toll is having a strategic effect. Russian warships have pulled back from the port of Sevastopol, Crimea, retreating to the safety of Novorossyisk further east. The attack in Feodosia – a small port town halfway between the two larger seaports – confirms that Ukraine can reach deeper into Russian-held territory. <\/p>\n Ukrainian forces also destroyed a Russian landing ship at Sevastopol in September 2023<\/a> and another at Berdyansk in March 2022<\/a>. At least one more<\/a> appears to have been badly damaged in a drone-boat strike in August 2023. <\/p>\n Other well-known attacks include the sinking of the Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva <\/em>in April 2022<\/a>, the destruction of a Kilo-class sub in Sevastopol in September 2023<\/a> and a strike on a brand new missile boat at a yard in Kerch last month<\/a>. In all, Ukraine says that its forces have taken 23 Russian vessels (of all kinds) out of action. <\/p>\n\n
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\n“And Russia’s fleet is getting smaller and smaller! pic.twitter.com\/uL73EqIfhm<\/a><\/p>\n