Ukrainian Forces Destroy Russian Landing Ship, Detonate Stored Munitions
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.
In a brief message Tuesday morning, the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that the Ropucha-class landing ship Novocherkassk was destroyed in Feodosia, Crimea overnight. The AFU credited the attack to Ukrainian Air Force pilots.
"Crimea is Ukraine. There is no place for the occupier's fleet here," the AFU wrote.
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.
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).
Russian navy has a staggering attrition rate pic.twitter.com/WGmrYmWLjG
— Giorgi Revishvili (@revishvilig) December 26, 2023
NEW:
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 ????????????pic.twitter.com/nbyaEYBUDZ
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) December 26, 2023
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:
“And Russia’s fleet is getting smaller and smaller! pic.twitter.com/uL73EqIfhm— ukraine_defence (@ukrdefence) December 26, 2023
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.
Ukrainian forces also destroyed a Russian landing ship at Sevastopol in September 2023 and another at Berdyansk in March 2022. At least one more appears to have been badly damaged in a drone-boat strike in August 2023.
Other well-known attacks include the sinking of the Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva in April 2022, the destruction of a Kilo-class sub in Sevastopol in September 2023 and a strike on a brand new missile boat at a yard in Kerch last month. In all, Ukraine says that its forces have taken 23 Russian vessels (of all kinds) out of action.
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