Ukraine’s military said it attacked and destroyed a Russian submarine anchored in a port on the occupied Crimean peninsula.
Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement that the Rostov-on-Don, a kilogram-class attack submarine launched in 2014, sank on Friday after being hit by a missile in the port city of Sevastopol.
It is reportedly one of four submarines in the Russian Black Sea Fleet capable of launching Kalibr cruise missiles. The Russian Defense Ministry has yet to comment.
Kiev officials said the attack also destroyed four S-400 air defense systems protecting the peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
British intelligence officials said in September last year that the Rostov-on-Don was hit by a missile while undergoing repairs at the Sevastopol shipyard and “may have suffered catastrophic damage.”
Russia later repaired the ship and was recently testing its capabilities near Sevastopol, the Ukrainian military said. They added that the ship was worth $300m (£233m).
“The destruction of Rostov-on-Don once again proves that there is no safe place for the Russian fleet in Ukrainian territorial waters in the Black Sea,” Kyiv’s General Staff said in a statement on Saturday.
This is the latest attack on the Russian navy in Sevastopol in recent months. In March alone, Ukraine said it hit two landing ships and a patrol boat in the port city.
Since Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, its navy has suffered several major setbacks. Ukraine says it has severely damaged or sunk at least 15 warships, including The flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, Moskva.
Ukraine’s military said last week that Moscow had been forced to withdraw all naval assets from the Sea of Azov, the body of water connected to the Black Sea, after repeated attacks on its ships.
Russia’s internal security agency, the FSB, recently said it foiled a Ukrainian plot to destroy its last aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov. The ship was launched in 1985 and has been undergoing repairs since 2018.
Meanwhile, Kiev officials said Ukrainian drones struck a major Russian airport and oil depot.
The target of the attack was the Morozovsk airport, where the guided bombs that had recently wreaked havoc on Ukrainian cities were stored.
Online videos purportedly from the base showed violent explosions and fires after several attacks on the fuel depot or ammunition depot. Russia said many of the drones used were shot down, but local authorities have declared a state of emergency around the air base.
Oil storage facilities in the Rostov, Kursk and Belgorod regions were also targeted.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attacks came after Russia fired more than 600 guided bombs into Ukraine in a week.
He said it was crucial for Ukraine to prevent Russian aircraft from launching munitions and said attacking Russian airports was “fairly fair”.
Ukraine’s allies have previously been reluctant to allow it to use Western weapons to launch attacks inside Russia, although the United States has recently allowed Kiev to attack some targets along the border.
Earlier this week, Lithuania’s foreign minister said the first batch of F-16 fighter jets had arrived in Ukraine. Kyiv’s NATO allies have long pledged that President Zelenki sees the aircraft as central to the country’s air defense program.
The Times reported that six jets donated by the Netherlands had arrived in the country, but Dutch defense officials declined to comment when contacted by the BBC earlier this week.
Kiev officials also hope the jets will help curb Russia’s momentum on the front lines. Moscow’s forces have been making gains in the east of the country for weeks.
