The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed the AFU strike on the Novocherkassk landing ship. According to RIA Novosti with reference to the Russian military department, the ship was damaged. It is also claimed that the Russian military shot down two Ukrainian Su-24s that launched missiles at the Novocherkassk landing ship. The Ukrainian armed forces deny this.
“Head” of Russia-annexed Crimea Sergei Aksenov said one person was killed and two others were injured in the attack on the port of Feodosia.
The head of the Russian Defense Ministry, Sergei Shoigu, informed “the Russian president” about the incident, Kremlin spokesman Dmitrii Peskov said.
The AFU Air Force said earlier that tactical aviation attacked a large landing ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s Novocherkassk landing ship in the Feodosia region with cruise missiles at around half past three in the morning.
Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said the target had been successfully hit. Later on Tuesday, it became known that the Russian Interior Ministry had put Oleshchuk on a wanted list under a criminal article, but which one – it was not specified. In early October this year, the Russian Investigative Committee charged the Ukrainian military commander under the article on terrorist act committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, RBC notes.
“And the fleet in Russia is becoming less and less! This time, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the cruiser Moskva, is followed by the large landing ship Novocherkassk”. I thank the pilots of the Air Force and all involved for the filigree work”, – wrote the commander of the Air Force of Ukraine.
Later, AFU spokesman Yurii Ignat said the strike was carried out by Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles, and the Russian air defense was bypassed with the help of “certain tactical techniques and good Western weaponry”. Ignat speculated that munitions exploded in the strike. The ship cannot be restored, the AFU spokesman claimed.
The Ukrainian president said he was grateful to the AFU for the strike on Feodosia. “I am grateful to our Air Force for the spectacular replenishment of the Russian submarine Black Sea Fleet with another vessel”, Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote in Telegram.
The explosions, fire and then a second powerful blast in the port of Feodosia were reported by both Russian and Ukrainian sources.
Telegram channel Mash, citing local residents, wrote about “loud pops” and puffs of smoke in the area of the Feodosia port. Automobile traffic on the Crimean bridge was stopped for some time.
“There was a loud explosion in Feodosia at 03:31, and now something is burning in the port […] detonation continues. They say some ship was hit”, writes the Ukrainian telegram channel Crimean Wind.
Izvestiya and REN TV reported that the building of the railway station in Feodosia was damaged as a result of the AFU attack. According to their reports, the blast wave blew out the windows. “Crimean Railroad” announced the change of the route of commuter trains from Feodosia to Dzhankoy “for technical reasons”.
