Ukrainian Missile Attack Hits Russian Warships

According to reports, two Russian vessels were damaged as Ukraine conducted a comprehensive attack on a Russian ship repair station in Crimea early Wednesday morning, in what looks to be Kyiv’s most audacious hit on the port since the war began.

According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, Ukrainian military forces used 10 cruise missiles and three unmanned boats to strike the Sergo Ordzhonikidze shipyard in Sevastopol, which Russia utilizes as a maintenance station for its Black Sea Fleet.

According to the ministry, its air defense troops fired down seven of the missiles, and the patrol ship Vasily Bykov sank all of the boats. However, Russian officials stated that the strike destroyed two Russian vessels and wounded 24 people.

The major strike was verified by Mikhail Razvozhaev, the Russian-appointed governor of Sevastopol, the main city in the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea that was unlawfully taken by Moscow’s forces in 2014. Videos and photographs allegedly from the location, some of which were released by Razvozhaev, show a big cloud of smoke and a raging fire.

Razvozhaev subsequently stated that he was at the location “on the southern grounds of Sevmorzavod, where, according to preliminary information, 24 people were injured, four of whom were in moderate condition.”

According to Russian official agency TASS, the attack reportedly caused damage to eight dwellings. It was also stated that emergency personnel on the site temporarily suspended their work due to fears of a second attack, but rescue efforts have now resumed.

According to an unauthorized Russian military blogger, two ships were hit: the diesel-electric submarine “Rostov-on-Don” and the big landing ship “Minsk,” which caught fire. Both ships were in dry dock for maintenance. CNN was unable to independently confirm the claim.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, without naming the ships, stated that the two damaged warships “will be fully restored and will continue combat service as part of their fleets.”

The attack on the Sevastopol shipyard, according to another renowned Russian military blogger, was carried out by the Ukrainian Air Force, who launched 10 Storm Shadow cruise missiles against the complex. The Storm Shadow, created jointly by the United Kingdom and France, is a cruise missile with stealth characteristics and Kyiv’s longest-range weapon.

Rybar, the blogger, claimed the missiles were launched from Su-24M planes over the Black Sea. Rybar stated that air defenses, including a Pantsir-S1, intercepted seven missiles, but that “unfortunately, three Storm Shadow missiles reached their target: the landing ship Minsk and the submarine Rostov-on-Don, which were in dry dock, received varying degrees of damage.”

The Rostov-on-Don is a contemporary Kilo-class submarine that can carry Kalibr cruise missiles. CNN was unable to independently verify the degree of any vessel’s damage.

“After a long break, cruise missile attacks on Crimea have resumed,” Rybar explained. “Raiders will almost certainly continue in the coming days (and not just in Sevastopol).”

In an apparent reference to the overnight attack on Sevastopol, Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian President’s Office, stated that “we need to deprive the Russian army of logistics in addition to sanctions pressure and depriving the Russian military-industrial complex of the ability to produce weapons.” They won’t be able to keep our land without it.”

“The way to victory on the battlefield is to destroy the Russian logistics,” Yermak explained.
Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, commander of Ukraine’s air force, stated on Wednesday, “While the occupiers are still recovering from the night-time bombardment in Sevastopol, I would like to thank the Ukrainian Air Force pilots for their excellent combat work!” “More to come…”

In recent months, Ukrainian troops have begun to launch strikes deep into Russian-controlled territory in an effort to, in the words of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, “return” the fight to Russia’s “symbolic centers and military bases.”

Ukrainian sea drones assaulted a key Russian military facility in Novorossiysk in early August, leaving a damaged Russian battleship stranded in the Black Sea. Ukraine also launched a naval drone strike on the Kerch Bridge, which connects the occupied peninsula to mainland Russia, in July, its second successful attack on the bridge since the war began.

The newest strike comes just days after an extract from Walter Isaacson’s book biography of Elon Musk claimed the SpaceX founder directed his engineers not to activate his company’s Starlink satellite network near the Crimean coast last year, thwarting a Ukrainian surprise attack on the Russian naval force.

Musk subsequently claimed that Starlink,, which has given internet access to Ukraine since the Russian invasion, was never operational over Crimea and that Kyiv made a “emergency request” to him to switch on service, which he refused, citing concerns about “conflict escalation.” On X, previously Twitter, Isaacson addressed the book’s portrayal of the incident, saying, “the Ukrainians thought coverage was enabled all the way to Crimea, but it was not.”

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