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The Ukrainian armed forces announced on Tuesday that they had destroyed a Russian warship near the Crimean peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

Military spokesman Andrei Yusov said that the Russian Sergei Kotov-class Project 22160 patrol boat was damaged by a previous Ukrainian attack, likely in September 2023, but was destroyed overnight by Magura V5 naval drones. “.

Ukrainian military intelligence said the ship suffered “damage to the stern, starboard and port sides” in the Kerch Strait, the narrow waterway that separates Crimea from the Taman Peninsula on the Russian mainland, and connects the Black Sea to the Sea of ​​Azov.

“Regarding the crew, the details are being clarified,” Yusov told Ukrainian media. He added, “There are dead and wounded. But it is likely that some crew members were able to evacuate.”

There was no immediate response from Russia and the reports could not be independently verified.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said the Russian Black Sea fleet is a “symbol of occupation,” adding that it “cannot be in Ukrainian Crimea.”

Although it does not have a large navy, Ukraine has nonetheless achieved some important successes in the Black Sea using drones and missiles. Several Russian warships were sunk or damaged, including the Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which sank just two months after the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

In September, Ukraine used Storm Shadow/Sculp missiles supplied by France and Britain to launch an attack on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimea, forcing Russian ships to move east.