Seven Russian sailors were killed and six injured as a result of the destruction of the Russian Sergey Kotov patrol ship near occupied Crimea on March 5, according to preliminary data from Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR).
The military intelligence agency confirmed earlier today that the Project 22160 patrol ship was destroyed in the Kerch Strait after being hit by Ukrainian Magura V5 naval drones. The Russian Defense Ministry is yet to comment on the incident.
Ukraine's military intelligence agency said that 52 crew members who were on board the ship could have been evacuated.
In a conversation allegedly intercepted by HUR, a Russian commander claimed that the Russian patrol ship had a helicopter on board. Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing unnamed sources, that a Russian Ka-29 transport and combat helicopter was destroyed along with the vessel.
Russian forces were also planning to place an anti-aircraft missile system on the Sergey Kotov patrol vessel, according to HUR spokesperson Andrii Yusov.
Sergey Kotov is one of a number of Russian ships reported to have been damaged by Ukrainian forces. On Feb. 14, the Russian Ropucha-class landing ship Caesar Kunikov was sunk in the Black Sea after being attacked by Ukrainian naval drones.
Ukraine has repeatedly struck Russia's Black Sea Fleet since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, including the sinking of the flagship cruiser Moskva in April 2022 and a devastating missile attack on the fleet's headquarters in occupied Crimea that reportedly killed more than 30 officers.
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