Ukraine says destroyed another Russian warship in Black Sea
Kyiv, Mar 05, 2024 -Ukraine said on Tuesday its forces destroyed a Russian military patrol ship in the Black Sea near annexed Crimea, the latest naval attack on Moscow's fleet in the key waterway.
Kyiv also said it was behind a drone hit on an oil depot in a Russian border region, as Ukraine flexes its ability to strike Russia from the air and at sea with its troops struggling on the front lines.
The Black Sea has been a vital battleground in the two-year war.
Ukraine claims to have destroyed more than two dozen Russian ships since Moscow invaded in February 2022.
Ukraine's GUR military intelligence unit on Tuesday released a black and white video of what it said was the overnight attack on the Sergei Kotov, a 94-metre (308-foot) Russian military patrol ship.
The footage showed a naval drone approaching the side of the vessel, before a large explosion can be seen sending fire, smoke and debris into the sky.
«Another very successful operation. Great news,» said GUR spokesman Andriy Yusov.
The attack happened near the Kerch Strait, off the Crimean peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014.
Officials in Kyiv revelled in the hit, a much-needed boost for its forces with Moscow in the ascendancy on the battlefield.
«One Russian ship has been upgraded to a submarine,» Ukraine's defence ministry said in an ironic post on X.
Delays to Western aid — a $60-billion US aid package and European artillery shells — have left Ukraine's troops outnumbered and outgunned across the sprawling front lines.
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