Ukraine’s military intelligence says it sank a Russian warship off the coast of Crimea overnight into Thursday, landing the latest in a series of blows to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet after mounting a “massive” missile attack on the occupied peninsula hours earlier.
Night-time footage supplied by Ukraine showed naval drones racing toward the Russian ship before exploding on impact, causing significant damage to the vessel.
The sinking of the Ivanovets is the latest in a series of Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, as it attempts to land both strategic and symbolic blows against Russian forces that annexed Crimea in 2014.
Ukraine has previously said its strikes on Crimea and on Russian ships are intended to try to isolate the peninsula and make it more difficult for Russia to sustain its military operations on the Ukrainian mainland, where the front lines have remained mostly static for months.
“Our military repelled a massive attack on Sevastopol,” the Russia-appointed governor of the city Mikhail Razvozhaev said Wednesday, adding more than six missiles were shot down.
The Belbek airfield was formerly the base of Ukraine’s 204th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Mykola Oleshchuk, Commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, said Wednesday in a Telegram post, accompanied by video of an explosion.
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