Ukrainian sea drones hit and sank a Russian Black Sea Fleet patrol ship off occupied Crimea in an in a single day assault, the Ukrainian navy mentioned on Tuesday.
Ukraine’s GUR navy intelligence company mentioned a particular unit known as Group 13 had fired Magura V5 maritime drones on the Sergey Kotov close to the Kerch Strait, which connects the Sea of Azov to the Black Sea.
It mentioned on the Telegram messaging app that the vessel had sustained injury to the strict, starboard and port sides, at an estimated value of $65 million.
“Proper now this ship is on the seabed because of hearth injury by unmanned boats,” navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk mentioned in televised feedback.
Andriy Yusov, a GUR spokesperson, mentioned a helicopter had been on board the vessel.
Zelenskiy has but to remark
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made no direct reference to the reported sinking of the vessel in his nightly video deal with.
However he mentioned Ukraine had “confirmed what we’re able to, what our energy is able to.”
“That’s proven by the variety of downed Russian plane and the capabilities of our boys towards the Russian fleet. There are not any protected havens for Russian terrorists within the Black Sea and nor will there be.”
And there could be, he mentioned, “no protected area for them within the sky, given adequate Ukrainian energy.”
Reuters was unable to confirm the experiences. Russia’s protection ministry didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Some Russian navy bloggers confirmed the account. The Telegram channel VChK-OGPU reported makes an attempt to tow the ship to port however mentioned it will definitely sank.
Ukraine’s advances at sea
Ukraine has in latest months stepped up assaults within the Black Sea and on Crimea, which Russia seized and annexed in 2014. Kyiv has reported a sequence of strikes, together with the sinking of a big touchdown ship by naval drones in mid-February.
Pletenchuk mentioned the Sergey Kotov had additionally been hit in September 2023 and {that a} related patrol vessel had been broken in assaults since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years in the past.
“They’ve 4 related ships, two of them are not in service,” he mentioned.
Reuters was unable to substantiate the sooner strikes.
Practice and freeway site visitors was quickly stopped and later resumed on a bridge spanning the Kerch Strait and linking the Crimean peninsula to the Russian mainland, Moscow-installed officers in Crimea mentioned.
Russia controls near one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory. Zelenskiy mentioned in November Kyiv had seized the initiative within the Black Sea and compelled again Russia’s fleet.
