Ukrainian Armed Forces destroy Russia’s large landing ship

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have detonated the large landing ship Novocherkassk in the occupied Crimea.  According to reports from the Ukrainian Air Force, Ukrainian tactical aircraft launched a cruise missile attack on the vessel near Feodosia around 3 am. 

“We are holding the sea! Together – to victory!” wrote Ukrainian defenders. The Russian Ministry of Defense has already confirmed the attack on the ship.

📹The moment when the ship #Novocherkassk was hit in the temporarily occupied #Feodosia in #Crimea.

It is reported that on board the ship at the time of the explosion were UAVs Shahed. pic.twitter.com/7LRwXjgjll

— KyivPost (@KyivPost) December 26, 2023

Ukrainian defenders used “clearly more than one missile” to destroy the Novocherkassk because the “enemy can intercept cruise missiles,” said Yurii Ihnat, spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force.

“[Targeted] with cruise missiles. … We don’t have many of these weapons in our arsenal, and they were provided to us by our partners. Currently, people will be asking, by which [missile] specifically − ours or our partner’s − because every manufacturer wants to showcase such results of their work. It’s like advertising their achievements. We have Storm Shadow and Scalp in our arsenal,” Ihnat said.

Russian Telegram channels reported that, allegedly, there were Iranian munitions on board the ship, and a fire broke out in the port. According to some information, the Novocherkassk could have been carrying Iranian drones, such as Shahed drones, which Russia uses to attack Ukraine. The significant explosion observed on the Russian ship indicates it was not “the detonation of something insignificant,” added Ihnat.

“[It was] the detonation of munitions because a large landing ship is used to transport equipment, weapons, and personnel,” the spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force says.

The Russians claimed that they shot down two Ukrainian Su-24s during the attack. However, Ihnat refuted this information, adding that “Russians have long been claiming the destruction of even F-16s in their reports.” It should be noted that Ukraine has not yet acquired Western fighter jets.

According to a US military fact sheet on the Novocherkask and the other vessels in its Ropucha class, the 369-foot (112.5-meter) vessel displaces about 3,450 tons, making about the same size as a US Navy littoral combat ship, CNN writes.

The Novocherkask carries a crew of around 87 with capacity for 237 troops, according to the US military. It was not known how many personnel may have been aboard in the alleged Ukrainian attack.

The large landing ship Novocherkassk is a Project 775 vessel, built by socialist Poland for the USSR from 1975 to 1991 with the capability to conduct operations in the ocean, as stated by the Defense Forces of Ukraine’s South.

In 2014, Russian forces seized a comparable Ukrainian vessel, the Kostiantyn Olshanskyi, in Crimea. Ukrainian defenders made their initial attempt to strike the Novocherkask on March 24, 2022, at the port situated in the occupied city of Berdiansk.