scorecard
  1. Home
  2. international
  3. news
  4. Ukraine may have found new ships to target in its quest to hobble Russia's Black Sea Fleet

Ukraine may have found new ships to target in its quest to hobble Russia's Black Sea Fleet

Sinéad Baker   

Ukraine may have found new ships to target in its quest to hobble Russia's Black Sea Fleet
  • A Ukrainian partisan group, ATESH, said it found two Russian ships hiding in Crimea.
  • Ukraine has damaged much of Russia's fleet there despite having no real navy itself.

Ukraine may have more discovered new targets in its quest to take down Russia's once formidable Black Sea Fleet.

Ukrainian partisans said that they had found two Russian Project 775 landing ships near the city of Sevastopol in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014.

The ATESH group, a resistance movement of Ukrainians and Tatars in Crimea, said it constantly monitors the coast in Crimea, particularly in Sevastopol.

It identified one of the ships as the Konstantin Olshansky, which Russia captured from Ukraine in 2014.

It said that Russian forces had hidden the ships in cranes and port infrastructure, hoping to save them.

ATESH said it passed its information to Ukraine's military, "and there is no doubt that soon more of the enemy's ships will sink," according to the translation by Ukrainian newspaper the Kyiv Post.

It shared what it said were images of the ships, showing them in a small bay and near trees and infrastructure.

Business Insider could not independently verify the group's claims.

But Ukraine has been hugely successful at targeting Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, despite Ukraine not having any warships itself.

Using sea drones and missiles, Ukraine has hammered much of the fleet. Ukraine's military said earlier this year that it had destroyed a third of the fleet, and the UK's Ministry of Defence said in March that the fleet was "functionally inactive."

Ukraine said last month that Russia had pulled its last Black Sea Fleet patrol ship out from Crimea.

Ukraine's attacks have included a previous attack that damaged the Konstantin Olshansky, according to Ukrainian officials.

The ATESH group previously said that it has helped Ukraine attack Russia's ships.

It said last year that it got information from Russian commanders who were frustrated at not being paid by their military that Ukraine then used to plan a major attack on the Black Sea Fleet.



Popular Right Now



Advertisement