Ukrainian Air Force Claims Destruction Of Russian Ship In Crimea; Moscow Confirms Missile Strike
Smoke and flames fill the sky above the Crimean port of Feodosia on December 26, following a missile attack that hit a Russian landing ship.
FEODOSIA, Ukraine -- Ukraine's air force hit a major naval port on the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula and claimed a Russian naval landing ship docked there was destroyed.
Ukraine’s military said in a post on Telegram on December 26 that tactical aviation units fired cruise missiles at the port of Feodosia, on the eastern side of the Black Sea peninsula, around 3 a.m. local time, hitting the ship, the Novocherkassk.
Explosions reverberated throughout the city, waking up residents, setting off car alarms, and breaking storefront and building windows some distance away from the port.
The commander of Ukraine’s air force, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, said in a post on Telegram that “Russia’s naval fleet is getting smaller” and suggested that Ukrainian jets were involved, but gave no other details.
“We saw how powerful the explosion and detonation were," Colonel Yuriy Ihnat, an air force spokesman, told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service. "It’s extremely difficult for a ship to survive something like that."
Ukraine Says It Destroyed Russian Naval Ship In Occupied Crimea
1/7Smoke and flames fill the early morning sky above the port of Feodosia on the eastern coast of the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula, following a missile attack that hit a Russian landing ship and claimed at least one life on December 26.
Russia's Defense Ministry acknowledged that the Novocherkassk, a naval ship docked there, was damaged.
Kyiv claimed on December 26 that it had destroyed the Novocherkassk, a Russian naval landing ship, in what appears to be one of the most significant strikes against the Black Sea Fleet in months.
2/7Unverified photos showed fireballs climbing into the night sky on December 26.
Ukraine’s military said in a post to Telegram that tactical aviation units fired cruise missiles at the port on the eastern side of the Black Sea peninsula, around 3:30 a.m. local time, hitting the ship.
Kyiv claimed on December 26 that it had destroyed the Novocherkassk, a Russian naval landing ship, in what appears to be one of the most significant strikes against the Black Sea Fleet in months.
3/7The Novocherkassk pictured in May 2021 as it sailed the Bosphorus.
The Russian Defense Ministry, cited by the Interfax news agency, said Ukraine had used air-launched missiles to attack the Crimean port of Feodosia.
Kyiv claimed on December 26 that it had destroyed the Novocherkassk, a Russian naval landing ship, in what appears to be one of the most significant strikes against the Black Sea Fleet in months.
4/7A picture of the Novocherkassk from May 20 while it was undergoing repairs at the shipyard in Russian occupied-Crimea.
The commander of Ukraine’s air force, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, said in a post to Telegram that “Russia’s naval fleet is getting smaller,” and suggested Ukrainian jets were involved, but gave no other details.
Kyiv claimed on December 26 that it had destroyed the Novocherkassk, a Russian naval landing ship, in what appears to be one of the most significant strikes against the Black Sea Fleet in months.
5/7An RFE/RL correspondent reports that the explosion was so strong it shattered windows and woke up residents in different parts of the city.
Ukrainian Air Force Spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said he thought it would be hard for the Novocherkassk -- which can carry tanks and armored vehicles and be used to land troops ashore -- to return to service.
Kyiv claimed on December 26 that it had destroyed the Novocherkassk, a Russian naval landing ship, in what appears to be one of the most significant strikes against the Black Sea Fleet in months.
6/7The hotel Astoria following the explosion with several windows and doors that appear to have been blown open.
"We can see how powerful the explosion was, what the detonation was like. After that, it’s very hard for a ship to survive, because this was not a rocket, this is the detonation of munitions," Ihnat told RFE/RL.
Kyiv claimed on December 26 that it had destroyed the Novocherkassk, a Russian naval landing ship, in what appears to be one of the most significant strikes against the Black Sea Fleet in months.
7/7If confirmed, this would be the latest successful attack on a Russian Black Sea Fleet ship while it was in port. The Novocherkassk had previously been damaged during an attack on March 24 at the port of Berdyansk (pictured) when the landing ship Saratovwas destroyed and sunk.
Kyiv claimed on December 26 that it had destroyed the Novocherkassk, a Russian naval landing ship, in what appears to be one of the most significant strikes against the Black Sea Fleet in months.
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Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that the Novocherkassk had been damaged by a Ukrainian missile, but gave no other information. The Kremlin said that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had briefed President Vladimir Putin on the strike, a possible indication of the seriousness of the attack.
“An enemy attack was carried out in the Feodosia area. The port area is cordoned off. At this moment, explosions have stopped and the fire has been contained,” Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-backed governor of the Crimea region, said in a post on Telegram.
He said one person was killed and two others wounded in the attack. He gave no further information.
Unverified photos and videos showed fireballs climbing into the night sky, accompanied by an enormous shockwave. Photographs taken by a correspondent for Crimea.Realities, a regional desk of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, showed broken windows on several buildings along the city’s waterfront embankment.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed "special thanks" to the Ukrainian Air Force for its "excellent work against the occupiers in Crimea" but did not say anything specific about the attack or the state of the Novocherkassk.
RFE/RL's Crimea.Realities reported that two Russian vessels left the port of Feodosia in the afternoon of December 26. It was not possible to identify the ships by name, but judging by their size, the vessels were a military ship and a military boat belonging to Russia's Black Sea Fleet, Crimea.Realities reported.
Russia's Growing List Of Naval Losses
1/10The Novocherkassk large landing ship as seen during strategic drills in 2016. The Ukrainian Air Force said air strikes on the Novocherkassk in the Crimean port of Feodosia on December 26 heavily damaged the ship. The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged that the ship had been struck.
The training ship UTS-150 was also damaged and partially sunk, RFE/RL's Russian Service reported.
A Ukrainian air strike on the large Russian landing ship Novocherkassk on December 26 is the latest in a string of attacks that have hobbled Moscow's naval capacity since it launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
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The Askold corvette undergoes sea trials in October 2022.
On November 4, the Karakurt-class Askold corvette, which had yet to enter service with the Russian Navy, was struck by an apparent cruise missile. Ukraine later announced the ship's "destruction." Russia’s Defense Ministry described it as "damaged."
Karakurt corvettes are capable of launching up to eight cruise missiles and are equipped with a version of the Pantsir antiaircraft missile system.
A Ukrainian air strike on the large Russian landing ship Novocherkassk on December 26 is the latest in a string of attacks that have hobbled Moscow's naval capacity since it launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
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Russia’s Minsk, a Ropucha-class landing craft, cruises off the coast of St. Petersburg in July 2021.
In September 2023, several missiles struck a shipyard in the Sevastopol naval base in Russian-occupied Crimea. According to Britain's Defense Ministry, the Minsk was almost certainly "functionally destroyed" in the strike. Photos of the aftermath showed the ship smoldering and severely damaged.
The Minsk was built in Poland in 1983 and designed with a pop-open bow that could disgorge as many as 25 armored personnel carriers onto a beachhead.
A Ukrainian air strike on the large Russian landing ship Novocherkassk on December 26 is the latest in a string of attacks that have hobbled Moscow's naval capacity since it launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
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The Rostov-on-Don diesel-electric submarine is seen off the coast of Sevastopol in May 2020.
The Rostov-on-Don, which was launched in 2014, was also struck in the September 2023 strike on the Sevastopol naval base. The sub was severely damaged and will either be out of service for an extended period or scrapped.
The sub was filmed in December 2015 firing a barrage of Kalibr cruise missiles at what the Russian military described as Islamic State targets in Syria.
A Ukrainian air strike on the large Russian landing ship Novocherkassk on December 26 is the latest in a string of attacks that have hobbled Moscow's naval capacity since it launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
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The Ropucha-class Olenegorsky Gornyak landing craft on St. Petersburg’s Neva River in July 2021
In August 2023, videos released show a marine drone impacting the landing craft in the Russian port of Novorossiisk. The ship suffered "severe damage" in the attack, according to the British Defense Ministry, and videos later emerged showing the vessel listing heavily under tow
The Polish-made vessel is from the same Ropucha class as the Minsk that was apparently destroyed in September.
A Ukrainian air strike on the large Russian landing ship Novocherkassk on December 26 is the latest in a string of attacks that have hobbled Moscow's naval capacity since it launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
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A Serna-class landing craft carries an infantry fighting vehicle along the Volga River in July 2015.
A Serna was hit with a missile fired from a Bayraktar drone while docking on Snake Island in May 2022.
Serna landing craft are made to carry armored vehicles into "over-the-beach" assault landings and transport cargo. The block-shaped vessels use a unique "air-cavity" design that pumps air under the ship's hull to reduce drag.
A Ukrainian air strike on the large Russian landing ship Novocherkassk on December 26 is the latest in a string of attacks that have hobbled Moscow's naval capacity since it launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
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The Moskva guided-missile cruiser sails in the Caspian Sea in 2012.
The Russian flagship was famously sunk in April 2022 off the Ukrainian coast, south of Odesa. Ukraine claims the ship sank after being struck by two domestically produced Neptune anti-ship missiles. Russia said the Moskva foundered after an unspecified "fire," which detonated ammunition on board. It was the largest Russian warship to be sunk since World War II.
The cruiser carried some 500 sailors and wielded a formidable array of weapons, including 16 large cruise missiles.
A Ukrainian air strike on the large Russian landing ship Novocherkassk on December 26 is the latest in a string of attacks that have hobbled Moscow's naval capacity since it launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
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The Tapir-class Saratov landing ship takes part in an amphibious-landing exercise on a beach in Crimea in October 2021.
In March 2022, the Saratov was hit by a Tochka-U ballistic missile and sunk in the port of Berdyansk, Ukraine. Video of the aftermath of the strike showed other Russian vessels escaping the port as the Saratov burned. The charred remains of the vessel were later hauled back to the surface of the port using a dock crane.
A Ukrainian air strike on the large Russian landing ship Novocherkassk on December 26 is the latest in a string of attacks that have hobbled Moscow's naval capacity since it launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
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A Russian Raptor-class patrol boat near Kronstadt in 2016
At least two of the high-speed patrol boats were destroyed by a Ukrainian Bayraktar drone off Snake Island in March 2022.
Raptors are fitted with a remotely controlled weapon, armor, and bullet-resistant glass. They first entered service with the Russian Navy in 2015.
A Ukrainian air strike on the large Russian landing ship Novocherkassk on December 26 is the latest in a string of attacks that have hobbled Moscow's naval capacity since it launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
10/10The Veliky Bekh rescue tug in port in Sevastopol, Crimea, in June 2021
Ukraine announced it had destroyed the tug in the Black Sea in June 2022 as the vessel was allegedly ferrying supplies to Russian-occupied Snake Island. The tugwas hit with two Harpoon anti-ship missiles. A memorial to the to the crew of the tugboat, several of whom were reportedly civilian, was unveiled in Sevastopol in June 2023.
The ship was designed to tow stricken vessels, fight fires, and serve as a base for rescue diving operations. It was launched in 2016.
A Ukrainian air strike on the large Russian landing ship Novocherkassk on December 26 is the latest in a string of attacks that have hobbled Moscow's naval capacity since it launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
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Elsewhere, Russia’s military claimed the capture of the eastern town of Maryinka, which would potentially open up a new corridor for advancing in the Donetsk region. Shoigu was shown in a televised meeting on December 25 telling Putin about the town’s purported capture.
Kyiv initially disputed the claim, but on December 26 the Ukrainian military's commander in chief, General Valeriy Zaluzhniy, said Kyiv's forces had retreated from Maryinka and new defense lines had been prepared outside the town, which is largely destroyed and deserted but holds strategic importance.
Maryinka is located just under 30 kilometers southwest of the city of Donetsk, which is controlled by Russian forces.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said late on December 26 that a Russian strike on a train station in the southern city of Kherson killed at least one person and wounded four others. The train station was filled with about 140 civilians waiting for an evacuation train at the time of the attack.
Ukraine’s national railway operator said the station and trains were damaged in the attack.
"Currently, several injured workers are known. Passengers are in shelter," Ukrzaliznytsia added.
The company planned to transfer the passengers to buses that would take them to Mykolayiv, where reserve railway cars were waiting.
"The situation is under control, the railway workers are ready to continue moving," Ukrzaliznytsia said.
The head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, said Russian shelling of the region during the day on December 26 left three dead and several wounded. It was unclear whether this included the attack on the train station.
With reporting by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, AFP, Reuters, the BBC, and dpa
NOTE: The lead image for this article has been changed. The earlier photo was of a Ukrainian attack on Crimea in March.
