Attack on the Black Sea Fleet
Ukraine claims to have hit Russian landing ships
March 24, 2024, 3:54 p.m
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In recent weeks, Ukraine has delivered spectacular blows against Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet. Now two landing ships are said to have been hit by missiles in an air attack. According to Kiev, cruise missiles also hit communications facilities.
Ukraine claims to have hit two large Russian naval ships in a nighttime airstrike on the port city of Sevastopol. The military in Kiev said they were the landing ships “Yamal” and “Azov”. In addition, a communications hub and other facilities of the Russian Black Sea Fleet were hit, it said in a Telegram post.
The city administration of Sevastopol also reported a serious air attack that night on the peninsula, which has been annexed by Russia in violation of international law since 2014. City leader Mikhail Razvoshayev spoke on Telegram of the “most massive attack in recent memory,” but it was repelled. Videos are circulating on social media showing several violent explosions in various parts of Sevastopol. However, there is no independent confirmation of the Ukrainian information. There are currently no photos of the damaged or destroyed ships on the Internet.
Razvoshayev only reported that morning that five small harbor ferries had been damaged. In addition, 17 buses and a shared taxi were damaged. According to him, one man was killed by rocket fragments; four other people were injured. Based on Internet sources, experts analyzed that the Ukrainian army used at least three Storm Shadow/Scalp cruise missiles, such as those provided by Great Britain and France.
Ukraine, which does not have a functioning navy, says it has destroyed around a third of the Russian Black Sea fleet in recent months. Several landing ships for amphibious operations were eliminated. Russia used them to transport soldiers and equipment to Crimea. The ships could also have been used in a landing operation on the Ukrainian coast. Due to the air strikes, Russia has already moved a large part of the Black Sea Fleet further east to the port of Novorossiysk.
According to unconfirmed reports, a fuel depot near the village of Gvardeyskoye, near the Crimean capital Simferopol, was also attacked. The bridge connecting mainland Russia and the annexed peninsula was temporarily closed to traffic.