Brand-new Russian warship hit by Ukraine is so badly damaged that it is likely out of the action for the foreseeable future, war analysts say

• Ukraine struck a brand new Russian warship in Crimea, and experts say the ship likely won't be operable any time soon.
• Video footage shows the attack, and satellite images and other photos capture the resulting destruction.

Ukraine struck a brand new Russian warship far behind enemy lines, analysts say, likely rendering it inoperable for the foreseeable future.

The hit is Ukraine's latest in a string of successful strikes against Russian vessels. Kyiv's forces have demonstrated a determination to terrorize Russia's presence in the Black Sea and render the occupied Crimean peninsula untenable. They have damaged or destroyed several Black Sea Fleet ships, and in this case, they took a Russian ship out of action before it could even be commissioned.

On November 4, Ukraine launched a strike that damaged the Russian Askold Project 22800 Karakurt-class corvette, a Kalibr missile carrier docked in a Kerch shipyard in occupied Crimea. Satellite images from before and after the attack showed damage to the vessel and nearby infrastructure.

War analysts at The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said the attack on the ship "will likely render it inoperable for the foreseeable future," citing photos posted by Russian and Ukrainian sources.

Photos shared by open source accounts on social media showed significant destruction to the top and side of the warship. One video purportedly captures the moment a Ukrainian missile hit the ship, resulting in a large explosion of fire and smoke.

Like many of its previous attacks in and around occupied Crimea, Ukraine's strikes on the Askold were likely conducted by Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG missiles, observers said. Since employing the missiles in mid-May, Ukraine has used Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG — air-launched cruise missile provided by the UK and France that boast a 155-mile range — to great effect.

The missiles were likely also used in a recent bombardment of Sevastopol that damaged two warships and surrounding shipyard facilities in September. One expert previously told Insider the attack was a "major success for Ukraine" and "another blow to Russian seaborne logistics operations." The two ships hit were a landing vessel and a submarine, both of which were reportedly under repair.

And Ukraine has hit targets in and around Crimea with more than just Storm Shadows, which it also appeared to use in strikes against the Black Sea Fleet headquarters. In October 2022, Ukraine began employing its force of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) — naval drone boats packed with explosives — to harass and attack Russian ships and key transport vessels around Sevastopol.

The port city, long the home of the Black Sea Fleet, quickly became a major target for Ukraine's USV force. So, too, did the 12-mile Kerch Bridge, which connects mainland Russia with Crimea and serves as a economic, symbolic, and military tie to the occupied peninsula. Ukraine has repeatedly attacked the Kerch Bridge, forcing Russia to up its defenses, even going so far as to sink ships to make it more difficult for operators to drive the boats to the bridge.

In August 2023, Ukraine's USVs scored a win against the Ropucha-class landing ship Olenegorsky Gornyak. Even as Russia attempted to downplay the severity of the attack, photos showed the ship listing in the water afterwards, indicating it had taken major damage. Ukraine has also claimed wins against patrol vessels.

Ukraine has also used Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles to take out Russian targets — in one case, a land-based S-400 missile defense system in Crimea, and in another, a fleet flagship.

In April 2022, Ukraine shocked the world by sinking the Salava-class guided-missile cruiser Moskva with its Neptunes. The missiles had to be aimed well, flying just above the surface of the water to avoid the Moskva's missile defenses before impact. The resulting explosions sunk the ship and served as the first example of Ukraine defying Russia's naval supremacy in the war.

For the more recent attacks around Crimea, ISW said that it assesses that "Ukrainian forces have conducted an interdiction campaign against Russian military infrastructure in occupied Crimea, primarily BSF assets, since June 2023 to degrade the Russian military's ability to use Crimea as a staging and rear area for Russian operations in southern Ukraine."