Satellite images published on Nov. 5 show that Ukraine's attacks on Crimea on Nov. 4 damaged the Russian Askold cruise missile carrier, Navy Captain Andrii Ryzhenko told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's investigative program Schemes.
"You can see that it's still afloat, but the upper part of the ship is significantly damaged," Ryzhenko said.
According to RFE/RL, the Askold ship can carry up to eight Kalibr missiles, which Russian forces use to attack infrastructure across Ukraine.
Earlier on Nov. 4, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk announced that Ukrainian forces targeted a Russian ship carrying Kalibr missiles in a strike on Russian-occupied Crimea without specifying its name.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that the Ukrainian strike damaged a ship located in a shipyard in Kerch, a city in Crimea, Russian state-controlled media reported on Nov. 4.
Sergey Aksyonov, head of the illegal Russian occupation government in Ukraine's Crimea, wrote on Telegram that air defense was at work near a shipyard in the city of Kerch.
Debris from one of the intercepted missiles fell onto one of the dry docks, Aksyonov said. There were no reported casualties.
The Russian Defense Ministry later claimed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a strike using 15 cruise missiles at a shipbuilding plant in Kerch. Russian air defenses reportedly shot down thirteen cruise missiles.
Since mid-July, drones and missiles have regularly targeted Russian military depots and infrastructure in occupied Crimea.
The attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea and the naval targets nearby have substantially increased over the summer.
The strikes have largely focused on Russian logistics routes in and out of Crimea, as well as targeted ammunition depots of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, stationed in the occupied port city of Sevastopol.
Crimea is the central logistics hub for Russian forces in southern Ukraine.
Alexander Khrebet
(Updated: )
