Ukraine inflicts severe damage on Russia's fleet, destroying key assets
Due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces have lost seven ships and one submarine. This success is reported by the UNITED24 platform, which initiated a fundraiser for a fleet of sea drones, spearheaded by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a year ago.
Damages from the Ukrainian war led to the destruction or loss of several Russian vessels including cruiser “Moskva”, large landing ship “Minsk”, landing ships “Olenegorskiy Gorniak” and "Saratov", corvette "Askold", landing crafts from the “Serna” and "Shark" classes, as well as submarine "Rostov-on-Don".
The first successful target achieved by Ukrainian forces was the Russian Black Sea Fleet's flagship, cruiser Moskva. It was struck by Neptune anti-ship missiles on April 13, 2022, and sunk 93 miles from Odessa the following day. Media reports suggest there could have been two nuclear warheads onboard.
Five months later, on the night of September 12-13, 2023, a serious attack was launched on the large landing ship "Minsk", by Ukrainian forces while it was in a dry dock in Sevastopol. The attack brought about severe damage, rendering the chances of repair highly unlikely. In the same location, the diesel-electric submarine "Rostov-on-Don" was also attacked. The attacks were executed using Storm Shadow air-to-surface missiles.
The "Olenegorsky Miner" was neutralized in a joint mission by the SBU and the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Bay of Novorossiysk. The operation was executed using a surface sea drone carrying 992 pounds of TNT. Following the attack, it was discovered that the ship's hull had been punctured with a hole measuring about ten feet in diameter.
On March 24, 2023, the landing ship "Saratov" was destroyed in the Russian-occupied port of Berdiansk. A Tochka-U tactical missile was used by Ukrainian Armed Forces for the assault, which resulted in a serious fire onboard the ship.
On November 4, 2023, corvette "Askold" was attacked while anchored in temporarily occupied Kerch. Experts suggest that the SCALP-EG missile was launched at the Russian vessel, resulting in significant damage to vital ship components.
On November 10, further damages were inflicted on the Russian fleet, this time on the Serna and Shark class vessels, through maritime drone strikes. At the time, they were situated in the Chernomorskoje village area. According to Ukraine's Ministry of Defense's Intelligence Main Directorate representative, Andriy Yusov, the operation was highly successful, leaving Russia with the difficult task of replacing these sunk ships.
