Ukraine destroyed a Russian submarine in Crimea on Friday, kyiv’s military said, in what appeared to be the latest blow to the Black Sea Fleet based around the peninsula south of mainland Ukraine.
Ukraine has “successfully struck” Russia Rostov-on-Don A submarine exploded in the southern Crimean port city of Sevastopol, kyiv’s military said on Saturday.
kyiv also targeted four launchers belonging to Moscow’s advanced S-400 air defense system on the Crimean Peninsula, the Ukrainian General Staff said. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a separate statement that the launchers were “significantly damaged” on Friday.
Ukraine has previously focused on the Rostov-on-DonA KiloA V-class submarine launched in 2014, in September 2023. A missile attack on a shipyard in Sevastopol hit the ship and a Russian landing ship while they were undergoing repairs in dry docks.
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“THE Rostov “The submarine has probably suffered catastrophic damage,” the British government said at the time, adding that repairs to the submarine could take years.
The submarine suffered “significant damage” before being repaired and tested in Sevastopol, kyiv said on Saturday.
“As a result of the impact, the boat sank on the spot,” the Ukrainian armed forces said. The cost of the operation is estimated at about $300 million, according to the Kiev military.
The Russian government has not commented. Newsweek contacted the Moscow Defense Ministry by email for comment.
Since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, kyiv has used missiles and drones to target the Black Sea Fleet, partly based in Sevastopol. Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014 and Ukraine has vowed to reclaim it.
The loss of the Rostov-on-Don “This proves once again that there is no safe place for the Russian fleet in the Ukrainian territorial waters of the Black Sea,” kyiv’s military said.
Despite the lack of large warships, kyiv has managed to force the Black Sea Fleet to move largely away from Sevastopol, further east in the Black Sea. Moscow has moved many of its ships to its base in Novorossiysk and is reportedly establishing another Black Sea base in the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia.
Vice Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa, head of the Ukrainian navy, told Reuters last month that Moscow was “losing” Sevastopol, adding: “Almost all major combat-ready ships have been displaced by the enemy from the main base of the Black Sea Fleet.”
The British Ministry of Defense said in late July that 26 Russian ships had been damaged or destroyed in the Black Sea between February 2022 and June 2024. The Ukrainian Navy estimated that more than a third of the fleet had been destroyed.
THE Rostov-on-Don The Russian submarine is the only known Russian submarine to have been damaged in the Black Sea since the Kremlin launched its invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has one of the largest and most advanced submarine fleets in the world, and these vessels are considered far more formidable than its surface fleets.
