2023-12-26 20:01:50
Russia acknowledged this Tuesday that one of its ships was damaged in a Ukrainian attack in Feodosia, on the annexed Crimean peninsula, in a new setback in the Black Sea for Moscow, which claims progress on the ground when the war is almost two years old.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed by his Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, of the “damage” suffered to the landing ship “Novocherkassk” in this attack, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told the press, without giving details. more details.
The Ministry of Defense, quoted by the RIA Novosti agency, had indicated that the ship was “damaged at night in an attack by the Ukrainian armed forces, which used cruise missiles.”
Hours before, The Ukrainian Air Force had reported that it had “destroyed” this shipsuspected of transporting Iranian-made Shahed drones, which Moscow uses in the conflict.
The attack took place around 2:30 in the morning with cruise missiles from “tactical aviation,” he indicated on Telegram.
The commander of the Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk, released a video in which an explosion and flames are seen.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assumed that the ship sank and commented, sarcastically, on the good work of his army in adding “a new ship to the Russian submarine fleet in the Black Sea.”
The spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuri Ignat, said in a press conference that only the “skeleton” of the ship remains, as demonstrated by photographs published on its Telegram channel by the Defense Forces of Southern Ukraine.
“A photo appeared, only a skeleton remained of this shipeverything that was there was burned to the ground, following that explosion, “It is clear that not only the ship itself was destroyed, perhaps some port infrastructure, perhaps some support vessels that were nearby, as well as the ship’s crew that was nearby,” he said.
“Therefore, this is a very powerful event (…) we destroyed both the ship and the occupants thanks to clearly coordinated actions,” emphasized Ignat, who recalled that in April 2022 the Russian flagship was also sunk, the “Moskva”.
According to Sergei Aksionov, governor of Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, the attack in Feodosia left one dead and two injured.
A house damaged by the Ukrainian attack once morest Russian targets in Crimea, this Tuesday. Photo: REUTERS
Six buildings were damaged and its residents were evacuated, in this city that has an important commercial port on the shores of the Black Sea.
A victory for Ukraine
The attack is a triumph for Ukraine, which is trying to show that it can keep Moscow’s fleet away from its coasts, even if it fails to stop the advance of Russian forces on the front.
His army managed to move Russian ships away from the southwestern Black Sea and reopen a maritime corridor to export Ukrainian grain.
Zelensky celebrated the results of this strategy, “a great victory for Ukraine in the Black Sea.”
Images published on Telegram show the explosion following the Ukrainian missile attack on a Russian ship in the Black Sea. Photo: AFP
Although the Russian fleet’s Black Sea port is located in Sevastopol, regarding 190 km from Feodosia, several Russian ships are currently deployed in the port of this city, according to local press.
The Black Sea is very important for Ukraine’s grain exports, one of the world’s largest producers. It is also strategic for Russia.
In the northern part is Crimea, a key piece in the Russian military device to send supplies to its troops in southern Ukraine and to launch attacks inside the former Soviet republic.
kyiv’s operations in the Black Sea are one of his few military triumphs this yearsince following several withdrawals by the Russians in 2022, the front line remains almost unchanged and in recent weeks Moscow’s troops have intensified their pressure in the eastern and southern areas.
The Russian military claimed on Monday that it had taken control of the town of Marinka, near Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine. kyiv later claimed it was false.
The Ukrainian military said Tuesday that the country was the target of a new barrage of Shahed drones, especially in the Kherson and Odessa regions. Thirteen of the 19 Russian drones were intercepted, according to the same source, which did not report any casualties or damage.
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