Ukraine hits Russian naval vessels and S-400 system in Crimea
Photo: The Volga vessel damaged in a Ukrainian strike (Russian media)
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) used drones to strike the Volga and Vyatka cable-laying ships at the Zatoka shipyard in temporarily occupied Kerch. A massive fire broke out aboard the vessels, the SBU reports.
Operators from the SBU's Alpha special operations unit carried out the strike on vessels at the Zatoka shipyard in occupied Kerch.
The drones hit the Volga and Vyatka cable-laying ships, as well as the Petropavlovsk cargo-passenger ferry, which was 96% complete. Large fires erupted on all three vessels.
What these ships are and why they matter
The Volga and Vyatka were not ordinary ships. They were built for Russia's Defense Ministry to:
- deploy the Harmony underwater surveillance system used to track submarines;
- lay mines targeting ships, underwater pipelines, and communication cables.
Each vessel is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Part of an S-400 system also destroyed
In addition to the ships, SBU drones struck weapons and a radar station belonging to an S-400 air defense missile system, which had been protecting the Kerch Strait area. As a result, part of the air defense network there is no longer operational.
The strikes were part of an operation approved by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Its goal is to weaken Russia's military and logistics infrastructure in Crimea and prevent Russian forces from using the peninsula as a supply hub.
Earlier, RBC-Ukraine reported that Sevastopol has already been hit by power outages and a fuel shortage.
