Ukraine says it destroyed a Russian submarine with British cruise missiles – Politico

Kiev – Ukraine confirmed on Thursday that it had destroyed a Russian submarine loaded with British weapons during a missile attack on the Black Sea port of Sevastopol in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula.

Russia’s cruise missile carrier – Rostov-on-Don – was heavily damaged in the massive Ukrainian strike, as was the Kremlin warship Minsk.

A senior Ukrainian military official confirmed to Politico that Ukrainian pilots used a British Storm Shadow cruise missile in the attack.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukraine fired 10 cruise missiles at a shipyard in Sevastopol on Wednesday, but only three of them hit their targets, damaging two military ships. Unusually, on Thursday morning the Ukrainian army He claimed the attack He said that Russia would not be able to repair the ships in the near future.

“The large Russian landing ship Minsk and the submarine Rostov-on-Don, which were hit during the night attack in Sevastopol, most likely cannot be recovered,” Andrei Yusov, a representative of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, said. On Ukrainian television. Russian Telegram channels Certain Names and types of ships.

Natalia Hominiuk of the Ukrainian military’s Southern Operations Command added that the military ships were likely damaged beyond repair for the Russians, as the only place to make repairs was the shipyard that was destroyed in the attack.

Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk publicly hinted that the Ukrainian Air Force was behind the Sevastopol attack and used British Storm Shadow missiles in the attack.

“While the occupiers are still recovering from the storm in Sevastopol, I would like to thank the Air Force pilots for their excellent combat work! To be continued … ”Olishchuk He said in a sharp statement.

The operation took place a few days after Ukraine took control of four oil and gas exploration platforms in the Black Sea near the shores of the Crimean Peninsula, and disabled the Russian radar that monitors all movements in that part of the sea.

“Ukrainian forces took advantage of a rare opportunity to target a submarine while it was on the surface of the sea. “This was the first time air-to-air missiles were successfully used against a submarine,” Ukrainian military expert and former military officer Roman Cvetan told Politico. He compared the importance of the operation to the sinking of the cruiser “Moskva” in the Black Sea last year: “I would say that this is a greater success.”

Invading Russian forces often bgo ahead Cruise missiles target cities and towns in western Ukraine from submarines in the Black Sea, as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war continues.