Ukrainian missiles strike Russian navy yard in occupied Crimea

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Ukraine attacked a Russian naval shipyard in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, hitting at least two warships that were undergoing repairs in dry dock, Russian authorities and Moscow officials in the occupied Black Sea peninsula said.

Earlier on Wednesday, videos posted on social media by Sevastopol authorities and bystanders captured a missile attack and violent explosions at Sevmorzavod, Russia’s main shipbuilding and repair facility for the Black Sea Fleet. The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that 10 missiles were fired at the ship repair facility, of which 7 were shot down by the air defense system and 3 hit the target.

“Two ships undergoing repairs were damaged as a result of being hit by enemy cruise missiles,” the ministry said. It also claimed that three naval drones targeting Black Sea Fleet vessels were destroyed by counterattacks launched by Russian warships.

Independent open source intelligence analyst Published satellite imagery A submarine and landing ship are shown in the Sev Morzavod dry dock at the time of the attack. The Financial Times was unable to independently verify whether the ships were at the facility.

Moscow-appointed governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozaev release A photo on Telegram showed fire and smoke at the scene. He said 24 people were injured in the attack. “All operational services are working on the scene and there is no danger to civilian objects in the city,” Razvozaev said.

Kyiv rarely claims responsibility for attacks in occupied Crimea and Russia, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andrei Yermak said on social media after the attacks that the country’s “general of defense forces is an important success.”

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has launched dozens of missile and drone attacks against Ukrainian military, commercial and civilian infrastructure since President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Kiev occasionally targets naval fleets in an effort to weaken Russia’s ability to attack Ukrainian territory from the sea. In April last year, two Neptune anti-ship missiles hit the flagship guided-missile cruiser Moscow and the ship sank off the coast of Odessa.

In recent months, Ukrainian forces have penetrated increasingly deeply into Russian-controlled territory and into Russia itself, using Western-supplied missiles and domestically produced weapons.

British Storm Shadow and French Scalp cruise missiles have been used to attack Russian logistics hubs, weapons depots and command and control centers in the occupied south. Long-range and medium-range drones have become an almost common sight in Russian skies, with dozens flying into the capital Moscow. Ukrainian drones also targeted ships and ports in the Black Sea, as well as a bridge across the Kerch Strait that connects the illegally occupied peninsula to mainland Russia.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk angered Kiev last week after it emerged he intervened to cut off the Ukrainian military during a drone attack on a Crimean warship at sea last September Access to the Starlink satellite Internet system resulted in mission failure.

Ukraine said the attacks on military infrastructure had lowered morale and emboldened Russian troops as they conduct a multi-pronged counteroffensive along a 1,000-kilometer front in the south and east.

“It has a sobering effect. . . . Speaking at the Yalta European Strategy Conference in Kiev on Saturday, Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, said of the Ukrainian attack on Russian soil:

Civil aviation was also disrupted, he added. “As a result, there has been a significant increase in the volume of transactions between insurance companies and airlines. These issues will continue to increase and affect people – we hope there will be a discussion in the kitchen about this.”

Additional reporting by Roman Olearchyk

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