KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian warplanes damaged a Russian ship moored in the Black Sea off Crimea, both countries said Tuesday. This boosted Ukrainian morale after disappointments on the battlefield and doubts about the future of Western aid.
The planes fired guided missiles at the Novocherkassk landing ship moored at a base in the city of Feodosia, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Videos on Russian and Ukrainian social media showed an explosion at the port.
Ukrainian authorities claimed the ship was destroyed. They said it likely had ammunition and possibly drones on board.
The 360-foot-long Novocherkassk can carry 10 tanks and 225 sailors.
“We saw how powerful the explosion and detonation was. “It is extremely difficult for a ship to survive something like this,” Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on U.S.-backed Radio Liberty.
“The Russian fleet has become smaller,” said the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Air Force. Mykola Oleschuk said in a mocking message on the social media app Telegram. He called on the Russians to leave Crimea “as long as it is not too late.”
In recent months, Ukrainian forces have carried out a series of attacks around Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula that was invaded and illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attributes these attacks, mostly with naval drones, to Ukraine's restoration of shipping in the Black Sea and the export of millions of tons of grain.
In September, a Ukrainian attack hit the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, killing one soldier. The following day, Ukraine fired more rockets at the city.
But despite high hopes for a broader Ukrainian counteroffensive over the summer, the front line moved little, and political disputes in allied countries cast billions of dollars in aid into question.
This week, President Joe Biden is struggling to win congressional support for continuing American aid to Ukraine. Although he has repeatedly promised that the United States would support Ukraine “for as long as necessary” to repel the Russian invasion, there is no sign of a bipartisan agreement to keep supplies flowing as the war enters its third year.
Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi showed on Tuesday that his troops had withdrawn to the northern outskirts of the city of Marinka, highlighting the difficulties Ukrainian forces are facing on the battlefield.
Russia said on Monday it had captured Marinka, located about 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Donetsk, the largest city in Russian-controlled territory.
Zaluzhnyi told reporters on Tuesday that Ukrainian troops had held Marinka for almost two years but the Russians were “destroying it street by street, house by house.”
“Our forces have prepared a defensive line behind this settlement. But I can say that this city no longer exists,” Zaluzhnyi said. He compared the Russian tactics in Marinka to the tactics in Bakhmut, which was reduced to rubble when the Russian army captured the city.
Against this backdrop, the attack on Novocherkassk offered some hope to Ukraine's allies.
British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps wrote on
“They did not realize that 20% of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was destroyed in the last four months,” Shapps wrote. “Russia’s dominance in the Black Sea is now in question.”
Russia also said on Tuesday that two Ukrainian fighter jets were destroyed by anti-aircraft fire in the attack. Ihnat of the Ukrainian Air Force denied this.
Russia-appointed Crimea chief Sergei Aksyonov said one person was killed in Tuesday's attack and that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had informed Russian President Vladimir Putin about it, Russian news agencies reported, which gave no details.
Shoigu praised Russia's successes in the war this year, saying: “The main efforts in the outgoing year were focused on achieving the goals of the special military operation.” The main one is to stop the Ukrainian counteroffensive loudly announced by Ukraine and its NATO allies to prevent armed forces. This task was successfully completed.”
The Russian authorities use the term “special military operation” to refer to the war they started in Ukraine almost two years ago.
The Novocherkassk was damaged in an attack in March 2022, about a month after the war began, but Ihnat said it had recently been used to transport weapons and soldiers to the Zaporizhia region, which is partly held by Russian forces.
The Ukrainian Air Force's update on Tuesday morning showed that Russia fired 19 drones last night, mainly against the Odessa and Mykolaiv regions – 13 of which were shot down. According to the Ukrainian presidential office, the remaining drones caused damage to infrastructure, but no casualties were reported.