Ukrainian military intelligence agency reports drone attacks on Russian landing ships in Crimea
KYIV, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Ukrainian naval drones attacked and sank two small Russian landing boats in Crimea, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said on Friday.
Reuters could not independently verify the report. There was no immediate comment by Russia, which seized and annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and whose Black Sea Fleet is headquartered in the Crimean city of Sevastopol.
An initial report from military intelligence said the two small, amphibious Russian ships had been hit overnight.
An evening update said the attack had been carried out by naval drones on the two vessels in Vuzka Bay, on the west side of the peninsula. It identified one landing craft as an Akula class vessel, the other a Serna class.
“The results of intelligence conducted on 10th November 2023 near Vuzka Bay in temporarily occupied Crimea show that after an attack by naval drones, two small Russian landing ships have been destroyed,” the report said.
“As a consequence of the attack, both vessels went to the bottom, the Akula straight away and the Serna after attempts to save it.”
The Ukrainian military said the vessels were crewed, and loaded with armored vehicles.
Ukraine says some Russian navy vessels have relocated from Sevastopol following recent attacks.
Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Ukraine began a counteroffensive in the south and east in early June, but has had strong resistance from Russia’s occupying forces.
In the latest fighting reports, the Russian news agency RIA quoted Russia’s defense ministry as saying Russian air defenses had brought down two Ukrainian drones over Crimea and one over the Tula region south of Moscow early on Friday.
Kyiv did not immediately comment and Reuters was unable to verify the report.
Ukrainian officials said Russian artillery and drone attacks had killed three people and damaged unspecified infrastructure, power lines and a gas pipeline in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions.
Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Ron Popeski and Grant McCool
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