Aftermath of the attack on a Russian ship in Russian-occupied Feodosia in eastern Crimea in the early hours of Dec. 26. (Photo: Ukrainska Pravda / Crimean Telegram channels)
Published December 26, 2023
Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that the Russian landing ship Novocherkassk, docked at Feodosia in occupied Crimea, had been “damaged” by a Ukrainian missile strike in the early hours of Dec. 26, in a statement reported by the Russian state-run media outlet TASS.
Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk announced that the ship had been struck earlier on Dec. 26, but implied it was destroyed, not damaged, which appears to be backed by the videos from the scene.
“And the fleet of Russia is getting smaller and smaller,” he said. “This time, the large landing ship Novocherkassk…Thanks to the Air Force pilots and everyone involved!”
Oleschchuk also shared a video of a large explosion, implied to be related to the strike on the Novocherkassk.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said to RFE/RL that the ship had been struck by more than one cruise missile. He noted that Ukraine possesses both Storm Shadow and Scalp missiles provided by the U.K. and France, which have the capability of striking occupied Crimea. Storm Shadow missiles were used in an attack in September on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in the Crimean city of Sevastopol.
Ihnat added that the size of the explosion indicated that something significant had exploded due to the strikes, likely ammunition.
U.K. Defense Minister Grant Shapps weighed in on the news, saying, “This latest destruction of (Russian leader Vladimir) Putin’s navy demonstrates that those who believe there’s a stalemate in the Ukraine war are wrong! They haven’t noticed that over the past four months, 20% of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has been destroyed.”
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SOURCE: www.kyivindependent.com
RELATED: Russian Warship Explodes in Missile Strike Video, Ukraine Says
Screengrab of an explosion on a large Russian navy vessel in a port in Crimea. Russian state media reported that the ship was only damaged in the Ukrainian attack.UKRAINIAN AIR FORCE
Published December 26, 2023
Ukraine destroyed a Russian warship at a Crimea base, just hours after Christmas Day, Kyiv’s military leaders have said.
Mykola Oleschuk, who heads Ukraine’s air force, shared a video on Telegram purported to be the Novocherkassk warship exploding, writing that “the fleet in Russia is getting smaller and smaller!” The clip could not immediately be verified.
In a post on Telegram, Oleshchuk wrote that the Novocherkassk was “following the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation—the cruiser Moskva.” The Moskva, a guided-missile cruiser, sank in April 2022 after being struck by Ukrainian missiles.
The large tank landing ship, was carrying Iran-made Shaheds drones, Ukraine’s air force said on Telegram, before the ship was “destroyed.”
While the attack and the destruction of the Russian navy ship could not be independently verified, videos shared on social media appear to show a large explosion in the Feodosia port on the Crimean peninsula. Footage shows a large, fiery explosion over what has been identified as the port town of Feodosia.
In an interview with the U.S. government-funded Radio Liberty, reported by online Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda, air force spokesman Yuri Ignat said they had to launch “obviously more than one missile” on the Novocherkassk because “the enemy can shoot down cruise missiles.”
Ignat added that the size of the explosion on the ship suggests that it was not “an explosion of something insignificant,” but was “the detonation of ammunition, since a large landing ship is used to transport equipment, weapons and personnel.”
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SOURCE: www.newsweek.com
RELATED: Russia confirms Ukraine destroyed its warship in Crimea attack
One person reported killed in attack that targeted the Novocherkassk, which Ukraine said was being used to transport Russian drones.
The Russian Navy landing ship Novocherkassk, pictured before the war in Ukraine [File: Sedat Suna/EPA]
Published December 26, 2023
Russia has acknowledged a Ukrainian attack has damaged a warship in the occupied Crimean port of Feodosia in what Ukraine and its Western allies call a major setback for the Russian navy.
Ukraine earlier on Tuesday said its air force destroyed the Novocherkassk landing ship, with President Volodymyr Zelensky joking on social media that the vessel had now joined “the Russian underwater Black Sea fleet”.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu informed “about the damage to our large landing ship” to President Vladimir Putin in “a very detailed report”, the president’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Tuesday.
Ukraine’s air force said it attacked the Russian navy ship at a base in Russian-occupied Crimea, which Kyiv claimed was carrying drones for use in Moscow’s war.
The Novocherkassk, a large landing ship, was “destroyed” in its air attack, Ukraine’s air force said on the Telegram messaging platform on Tuesday.
One person was killed and four were injured in the attack, the Moscow-installed governor of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, said, adding that six buildings had been damaged and their residents evacuated.
Aksyonov said the strike triggered a fire that had been brought under control.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 in a move Ukraine and the West condemned as illegal.
Feodosia, which has a population of about 69,000 people, lies on the southern coast of the Crimean Peninsula.
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SOURCE: www.aljazeera.com
