Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Navy, told the Liga media outlet on April 21 that the navy had struck a ship in occupied Sevastopol and confirmed that it was the Kommuna, a salvage ship. The extent of the damage to the ship is unclear at the time of this publication.
Earlier in the day, the Russian proxy official Mikhail Razvozhayev claimed an anti-ship missile had been "repelled" in occupied Sevastopol and that "fragments caused a small fire, which was quickly extinguished.
Unverified video posted to social media appeared to show a Russian naval vessel on fire and local media reported the Crimea bridge had been closed.
The Kommuna was launched in 1915 and is the oldest ship still in service in the Russian Navy.
Sevastopol is home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and is frequently targeted by Ukrainian missile and sea drone strikes.
Pletenchuk said on March 30 that Russia had withdrawn nearly all its major ships from ports in occupied Crimea following successful Ukrainian strikes.
To prevent further Ukrainian drone strikes on the Black Sea fleet, Russian forces in occupied Crimea are constructing barriers at the entrance to Sevastopol Bay, the partisan group Atesh reported on March 27.
Russia is also trying to strengthen the defense of its Novorossiysk port, where Moscow had begun redeploying its Black Sea fleet from Sevastopol last year, the U.K. Defense Ministry said in its daily update on March 31.
Andrii Kharuk
(Updated: )
