According to military sources, Ukraine claims to have hit two large Russian naval ships in a nighttime airstrike on the port city of Sevastopol. The military in Kiev said they were the landing ships “Yamal” and “Azov”. In addition, a communications hub and other facilities of the Russian Black Sea Fleet were hit, it said in a Telegram post.
The city administration of Sevastopol also reported a serious air attack that night on the peninsula, which has been annexed by Russia since 2014. City leader Mikhail Razvoshayev spoke on Telegram of the “most massive attack in recent memory,” but it was repelled. Unverified videos circulated on social media showing several violent explosions in various parts of Sevastopol. However, there was no independent confirmation of the Ukrainian information. There were also no photos of the damaged or destroyed ships on the Internet, as is often the case.
Razvoshayev only reported on Sunday morning that five small harbor ferries had been damaged. In addition, 17 buses and a shared taxi were damaged. According to him, one man was killed by rocket fragments; four other people were injured.
Based on Internet sources, experts analyzed that the Ukrainian army used at least three cruise missiles, such as those provided by Great Britain and France. Ukraine, which does not have a functioning navy itself, has decimated the number of ships in the Russian Black Sea Fleet in recent months. Several landing ships for amphibious operations were eliminated. Russia used them to transport soldiers and equipment to Crimea. The ships could also have been used in a landing operation on the Ukrainian coast.
According to unconfirmed reports, a fuel depot near the village of Gvardeyskoye, near the Crimean capital Simferopol, was also attacked. The bridge connecting mainland Russia and the annexed peninsula was temporarily closed to traffic.
