Ukraine Confirms Destruction of Major Russian Warship

In his evening address on Monday, President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Ukraine’s Armed Forces (AFU) for destroying the Askold, one of Russia’s Kalibr cruise missile carriers, over the weekend.

“I thank everyone who ensured the successful destruction of the Russian ship at the Kerch shipyard,” Zelensky said in his evening address, two days after a Ukrainian commander announced news of the airstrikes on the Zalyv shipyard in Crimea, about 2 km southwest of the Kerch Bridge.

The destroyed ship, the Askold, was a relatively new Karakurt-class corvette, a class of warships introduced in 2018, designed for carrying Kalibr or Onyx anti-ship cruise missiles.

According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russia has launched three such Project 22800 Karakurt-class corvettes from the Zalyv shipyard as of 2023. “The Zalyv shipyard is the largest shipyard in Eastern Europe and is likely the main repair facility for the BSF [Black Sea Fleet] in Crimea following a successful Ukraine strike on the Russian state-owned ship repair facility Sevmorzavod in Sevastopol on September 13, 2023,” the ISW wrote.

On Nov. 4, the AFU conducted missile strikes on the shipyard in the occupied Crimean port of Kerch. At the time, Ukrainian Air Force commander Mykola Oleschuk wrote on Telegram that the shipyard was “where one of the most modern ships of the Russian Navy was stationed” – a ship capable of carrying powerful supersonic Kalibr missiles.

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The figure is only slightly lower than Kyiv’s official estimates, where the UK Minister of Armed Forces said there were “tens of thousands more have deserted” not included in the estimation.

Oleshchuk hinted that the AFU used French SCALP cruise missiles, launched from Ukrainian military aircraft.

Later that evening, the Russian Ministry of Defense admitted that one of its ships at the Zalyv shipyard had been “damaged,” without giving specifics.