It is a blow to the heart of the Russian naval base in Sevastopol. On the night of Tuesday September 12 to Wednesday September 13, ten missiles struck the port facilities where a submarine and a landing ship under repair were damaged. The attack was claimed by the Ukrainian air force, likely carried out using Scalp/Storm Shadow missiles recently delivered by France and the United Kingdom.
The Sevastopol base, located in Crimea occupied by Russia since 2014, has already been targeted by aerial or naval kamikaze drone attacks. The decommissioning of two Russian naval vessels in the harbor harbor raises the question of the safety of units at anchor.
Explosions followed by a cloud and fires in the dark night. “Tonight, the Ukrainian armed forces (conducted) a strike using ten cruise missiles” on a shipyard in Sevastopol, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Telegram on Wednesday. “Two ships under repair were damaged,” added the ministry, while anti-aircraft defense shot down seven cruise missiles, according to the same source.
Earlier on Wednesday, Russian Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvojaïev indicated on Telegram that a fire had broken out at the targeted shipyard and that the relevant services were working. “As a result of the attack, according to initial information, a total of 24 people were injured,” Razvozhayev added.
Russian-occupied Sevastopol has been hit. It is said that the ship yards at the South Bay have been hit. Russian air defense was also active but obviously was not successful to intercept all incoming missiles. Source: https://t.co/A5sqjl8nee
Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk posted an image on social media of what appeared to be a large fire at a port, and vowed that Russia was “still recovering” from the attack from Kiev. “I would like to thank the pilots of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for their excellent combat work,” he praised. The spokesperson for the air force, Yuri Ignat, for his part declared to AFP that “the operation (had) been successful”, without giving further details.
What happened??? pic.twitter.com/IknyRn3xPs
Furthermore, three naval drones attempted to attack a detachment of boats from the Russian Black Sea Fleet, before being destroyed by a Russian patrol boat, Russian Defense also reported Wednesday morning. The Ukrainian navy, for its part, claimed on Telegram to have destroyed “an enemy boat of the KC-701 Tuna type”, without further details.
The images confirmed that the Minsk landing ship, Ropucha class as NATO calls it, was seriously hit. A photo shows that part of the rear superstructure of the building has literally collapsed. This ship, just over 100 meters long and displacing 4,000 tonnes, allows troops and equipment to be unloaded during amphibious operations through its opening bow.
The Russian Ropucha class LST can be seen post Ukrainian strike at the Sevastopol Shipyard drydocks. The superstructure forward of the rear AK-725 turret is gone. pic.twitter.com/SxHn2nFptX
“Judging by this photo, the restoration will take a fairly long period, and in the near future its participation in this military conflict is probably not expected,” judges the Telegram channel Gray Zone, close to the Wagner group.
If Russia has not carried out any amphibious operations since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, this type of ship can however be used to transport munitions to the Crimean peninsula and more broadly to the front. A large part of the supply in fact passes through the Kerch bridge, itself regularly targeted. On August 3, a sister ship of the Minsk was seriously damaged by a marine drone while sailing in the Black Sea. Damaging or preventing Russian ships from sailing freely contributes to the suffocation of Russian forces in the region.
Crimea has been targeted by aerial and naval drone attacks since the start of the offensive against Ukraine in February 2022. On August 25, Moscow, for example, claimed to have shot down 42 Ukrainian drones in Crimea, describing a massive attack against this annexed peninsula where Kiev had said the day before having succeeded in a rare commando operation.
The success of this strike raises the question of the level of Russian anti-aircraft defense, and its ability to protect the infrastructure of the naval base and the ships at anchor.
