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The “Sergei Kotow” in 2022
Photo: Vitaly Timkiv / SNA / IMAGO
According to information from Kiev, a Russian warship was sunk off the Crimean peninsula by an attack by Ukrainian water drones.
The corvette “Sergei Kotov”, which the Black Sea Fleet operates as a heavy patrol boat, was hit, the Ukrainian military intelligence service HUR announced on Telegram on Tuesday.
The ship suffered hits in the stern as well as port and starboard.
The pro-Russian military blog Belorusski Silowik wrote that the ship was destroyed.
The influential blog Rybar also spoke of the fact that the “Sergei Kotov” may have been the target of an attack.
The Crimean Bridge was closed for hours during the night; Ukraine had apparently previously attacked the area with drones.
Video supposedly shows attack
A video is circulating on the Internet that supposedly shows the explosions on the “Sergei Kotov” that night.
A ship can be seen in the pictures; it is presumably in the Bay of Feodosiya in the southeast of Crimea.
The ship fires at targets in the water until it is rocked by a massive explosion.
Last autumn there were reports of a drone attack on the Sergei Kotov, which is said to have suffered serious damage.
In total, the Russian Black Sea Fleet has four such patrol boats.
They are among the most modern ships in the squadron and were all only launched in 2017.
Powered by German diesel engines, the corvettes can also fire modern Kalibr cruise missiles, which the Russian fleet has also used to attack Ukrainian ground targets far inland.
Among other things, energy supply objects were targeted.
The Ukrainian military has now either damaged or sunk a number of Black Sea Fleet ships.
The Black Sea Fleet is repeatedly exposed to attacks, especially on the Crimean peninsula, which has been annexed by Russia since 2014.
The Ukrainians achieved their most important kill in April 2022 with the sinking of the missile cruiser “Moskva,” which served as the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet.
muk/dpa