Commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleschuk, on Sunday confirmed the successful strike of the new Russian missile ship Askold, which carries Kalibr cruise missiles. This happened during Saturday’s attack on a shipyard near the city of Kerch in occupied Crimea.
“I confirm (the intervention),” Oleščuk said on the Telegram network, according to the Unian agency.
He previously announced that he was waiting for confirmation of the results of the successful strikes of guided missiles on the infrastructure of the Zaliv shipyard in Kerch, where one of the most modern ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Kalibr guided missile carrier, the Askold missile ship, was moored. It was only launched in 2021.
As Unian reported on Saturday, explosions were heard in occupied Kerch. Later, there were reports of smoke in the shipyard area and near the Crimean Bridge.
Commenting on the attack, Ukrainian Armed Forces Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat earlier noted that one of the Russian ships was likely damaged. According to him, this ship had not even participated in any combat operations yet, but was only undergoing some tests.
The Russian Defense Ministry, which initially claimed that debris from a missile had fallen in the area, said late Saturday that the missile strike damaged one of the ships being built at the Zaliv shipyard. The report claims that 15 cruise missiles attacked the shipyard. The Russians did not specify the severity of the damage or the name of the ship.
The Rybar Telegram channel, close to the Russian Ministry of Defense, claims that the attack may have been carried out by four Ukrainian Su-24 aircraft carrying Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
Tags: Ukrainians hit Russian missile ship Askold Kerch confirmed commander Air Force
