Russian President Vladimir Putin was yesterday informed regarding the damage suffered by the landing ship “Novocherkassk” during a Ukrainian attack on the port of Feodosia, in Crimea, the Kremlin reported.
“The Minister of Defense, Serguei Shoigu, informed the President this morning regarding the attack in Feodosia and the damage to the ship ‘Novocherkassk’,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov at the daily press conference. Peskov added that Shoigu’s report was detailed, but without providing details, according to Spanish news agency EFE.
The Ministry of Defense, cited by the Russian agency RIA Novosti, said that the ship had been “damaged overnight in an attack by the Ukrainian armed forces with cruise missiles”.
Previously, the Ukrainian air force claimed to have destroyed the ship, suspected of transporting Iranian “drones” (aircraft without crew) used by Moscow in the conflict, reported the French agency AFP.
Ukrainian air force commander Mykola Olechtchouk released a video showing an explosion and a flash of flames. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the air force for the new military success in the Black Sea.
“I am grateful to our air force for the impressive addition of a new ship to Russia’s submarine fleet in the Black Sea,” Zelensky said on social media, sarcastically implying that the ship had been sunk, according to AFP.
The Russian defense had already recognized that the Ukrainian attack had reached “Novocherkassk”, a new setback for Moscow in the Black Sea, at a time when it is claiming advances on land.
The ship was damaged while “repelling an attack by Ukrainian armed forces with guided missiles,” according to Moscow. During an “aerial battle, Russian air defense systems destroyed two enemy Su24 tactical aircraft”, which launched guided missiles once morest “Novocherkassk”, the Russian army reported.
Crimean governor Sergei Aksionov said the attack on Feodosia, also known as Theodosia, caused one death and two injuries. Six buildings were also damaged and many residents fled the city, which is home to an important Black Sea commercial port.
Ukraine managed to keep Russian ships away from the southwestern Black Sea and reopen a maritime corridor for the export of Ukrainian grain, ignoring bombing threats. Zelensky hailed the results of this strategy as a “great victory for Ukraine in the Black Sea”.
Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014, is regularly the target of attacks as it is important for the logistics of the Russian army.
Although the home port of the Russian Black Sea Fleet is Sevastopol, regarding 190 kilometers from Feodosia, several ships are believed to be currently in the city’s port, according to Russian media.
The information released by both sides regarding the course of the war started by Russia on February 24, 2022 cannot immediately be independently verified.
