Ukraine’s cruise missile attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol left the Minsk Ropucha-class landing ship smoldering in its dry dock, video from the scene has shown, as the Russian navy counts the cost of Kyiv’s latest maritime success.
The Minsk was one of two vessels hit by a cruise missile and drone barrage on the Sevastopol port, in the Crimean peninsula, early on Wednesday morning, the other being the Rostov-on-Don Kilo-class attack submarine.
Satellite images showed that both had been undergoing dry-dock repairs or maintenance and that both were damaged by cruise missiles. Sky News has reported that Storm Shadow/SCALP weapons, supplied to Kyiv by France and the U.K, were used.
Sevastopol is the home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, and the cornerstone of Moscow’s naval power projection across the Black Sea and into the Mediterranean. As such, it is among the most alluring targets for officials in Kyiv, who have made clear their intentions to liberate the peninsula occupied and annexed by Kremlin forces in 2014.
The video of the Minsk—which appeared to still be burning, with emergency crews spraying water over the ship—shot some time on Wednesday appeared to show serious damage to the superstructure of the vessel, with portions having collapsed into a mass of twisted black metal.
The extent of the damage remains unclear. The Oryx open-source military tracker listed both the Minsk and the Rostov-on-Don as “damaged beyond economical repair.” Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry by email to request comment.
Satellite images captured and published by the Planet.com service after the attack showed significant damage to the S. Ordzhonikidze Shipyard, which was hosting the two targeted ships.
The images showed apparent fire damage to both ships and the surrounding shipyard, with a firefighting vessel spraying water onto the Minsk. The photos also appeared to show two impact points, one in the middle of the Minsk and the other at the bow of the Rostov-on-Don.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a Wednesday statement that 10 cruise missiles and three naval drones were involved in the attack. Seven missiles and all drones were intercepted, it said without offering any information on the reported damage done to the port facilities.
Ukrainian forces appear to be taking a methodical approach to attacking the Black Sea Fleet, which Russia has been using to impose an intermittent naval blockade of southern Ukrainian ports and to regularly launch cruise missiles at Ukrainian cities.
Since February 2022, Kyiv’s forces have damaged or destroyed 16 Russian vessels—per Oryx figures—despite having no meaningful conventional naval vessels of their own. Among them is the Moskva guided missile cruiser, the Black Sea Fleet’s flagship that was sunk by anti-ship missiles in April 2022.
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Sharing an image of the burning port on Wednesday, Mykhailo Podolyak—an adviser to the head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office—said that “the demilitarization of the Russian Black Sea fleet is a real long-term guarantee of security for regional trade routes and the ‘grain corridor.'”
“This is the only correct response to Russia’s attempts to turn hunger into a weapon and the only way to ensure uninterrupted grain supplies to the countries of the East and Africa,” Podolyak wrote.
“The way to do this is to build up the capacity of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including by expanding the range of weapons. We can already see the results of this in Sevastopol. A professional and meaningful ‘statement.'”
Russia has warned that ships traveling in the Black Sea to Ukraine’s ports may be considered military targets. In July, Moscow pulled out of the historic Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allowed the safe exports of Ukraine’s grain and agricultural products to global markets.