Legendary “Konstantin Olshansky”: Ukrainian forces attack captured ship

Legendary “Konstantin Olshansky”
Ukrainian forces attack hijacked ship

March 26, 2024, 11:56 a.m

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Ukraine has almost no navy. This is also because Russia once hijacked ships. This includes the “Konstantin Olshansky”, a landing ship that fell into Russian hands in 2014. Now Ukraine reports that it has successfully attacked it.

The showpieces of today’s Ukrainian naval forces could hardly be smaller: The sea drones “Sea Baby” and “Magura V5” filled with explosives are responsible for various sinkings of Russian ships – an attack on the Crimean bridge carried out by the domestic secret service is also said to have been successful with the former. The sea drones are hardly larger than a small motorboat. The fact that Ukraine no longer has any large warships is also due to the fact that some of them have fallen into the hands of the Russian armed forces. Like the “Konstantin Olshansky”.

Ukrainian media describe the ship as “legendary” because of its eventful history in the ranks of both parties to the conflict. Recently, according to the Ukrainian Navy on Telegram successfully attacked. The Ukrainians know “Konstantin Olshansky” very well: she was part of Kiev’s armed forces for many years. So the Ukrainians attacked their own ship – for good reasons.

The “Konstantin Olshansky” was put into service in the 1980s. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was transferred to the Russian Navy and, according to the Kyiv Independent, was handed over to Ukraine in 1996 as part of the fleet’s division. The “Konstantin Olshansky” served there until 2014 before it was “hijacked” by Russian troops, as the Ukrainian Navy said in a statement. In 2014, Russia’s illegal occupation and annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea took place, as a result of which Ukraine lost several ships.

Ukraine: Russians slaughtered “Konstantin Olshansky”.

Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said on Ukrainian television, the “Konstantin Olshansky” lay in the Bay of Sevastopol off Crimea for nine years and was dismantled and looted by Russia for spare parts. “And in the tenth year of the war, it was discovered that the large amphibious assault ships of Project 775 were running out, and it was decided to restore the ‘Konstantin Olshansky’,” said Pletenchuk.

Since it was planned to use the landing ship against Ukraine, it was decided to attack it with Neptune missiles. The extent of the damage still needs to be specified, but the “Konstantin Olshansky” is in an “uncombatable” condition, said Pletenchuk.

The attack joins a long list of Ukrainian attacks on the Russian navy. These include various hits and sinkings of Project 775 landing ships. These can transport several hundred soldiers and heavy military equipment.

The Ukrainian military recently announced that it had hit the landing ships “Yamal” and “Azov”. The sinking of the “Caesar Kunikov” was reported in February. At the end of December, satellite images evaluated by ntv.de showed that the “Nowocherkassk” was sunk. In September 2023 it hit the “Minsk” and in August 2023 the “Olenegorski Gornjak”.