A major turn in the crisis between Russia and Ukraine has occurred when Russian officials revealed that one of their navy ships was damaged in an attack by Ukrainian forces on a Black Sea facility. The port city of Feodosiya, which is located in the Crimean peninsula that is presently under Russian control, was the site of this incident early on Tuesday.
The assault was said to have targeted the large amphibious landing ship Novocherkassk, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Fighter planes from Ukraine, armed with precision-guided missiles, launched the attack. This confirms what the commander of the Ukrainian air force had previously said: that his planes had neutralized the ship.
One person died as a result of the offensive, according to Sergei Aksyonov, who was designated by Russia to lead Crimea. As a result of the attack, six nearby structures were also damaged. Following this, a specific number of individuals were transferred to temporary housing. The port’s transportation operations continued as usual following the strike’s containment and the extinguishment of the fire that it had started.
Video purportedly showing a major explosion at the port was posted by Lt Gen Mykola Oleshchuk, commander of the Ukrainian Air Force. Satellite images taken on December 24th show a ship docked in Feodosiya that appears to be the same size as the Novocherkassk, though it is still unclear whether or not these images are authentic.
The Novocherkassk has been shelled by Ukrainian army previously. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry announced in March 2022 that the ship was damaged during an attack on the port of Berdyansk in Ukraine. Word on the street is that the Saratov, another amphibious assault ship, went down in the engagement.
Lieutenant General Oleshchchuk, speaking on Telegram, drew parallels between the sinking of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet flagship, the Moskva, last year and the current situation of the Novocherkassk.
Russian soldiers’ location in the region after the 2014 annexation of Crimea has been crucial to the greater background of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022. Ukrainian soldiers have been relentless in their attacks on Russian military assets in Crimea. In the Black Sea, last month, the Ukrainian military asserted that it had damaged twelve Russian navy vessels and destroyed fifteen of them.
A large chunk of the Russian Black Sea fleet has been moved from Crimea to Novorossiysk, a Black Sea port in Russia, according to satellite pictures taken after the missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters in Sevastopol last September.
