Date: 2024-07-26 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00021952
RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE
DAMAGE TO RUSSIAN SHIP
Kyiv’s forces zeroed in on target after Russian state media filmed 370ft vessel unloading cargo of armoured vehicles, bound for Mariupol
DAMAGE TO RUSSIAN SHIP
Kyiv’s forces zeroed in on target after Russian state media filmed 370ft vessel unloading cargo of armoured vehicles, bound for Mariupol
Original article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/03/24/direct-hit-ukrainians-claim-have-destroyed-russian-navy-landing/
Burgess COMMENTARY
The performance of the Ukrainian Army and the mobilized citizenry is superb. I hope they can continue long enough to score a decisive win. It is possible, but it will not be easy.
Peter Burgess
By Telegraph Reporters
24 March 2022 • 12:55pm
A Russian navy landing ship has reportedly been destroyed by Ukrainian forces after its location appeared in a Kremlin propaganda video.
Ukraine's navy said it had achieved a direct hit on the Orsk, a Russian Alligator-class tank carrier, while it was anchored in the captured port of Berdyansk in the south of the country.
The reported success came three days after Russian state media filmed the 370ft vessel having armoured vehicles unloaded from it, which were set to reinforce troops in nearby Mariupol.
The TASS news agency had described the arrival of landing craft as 'an epic event' that 'opens up opportunities for the Black Sea in terms of logistics'. It reported that the vessel was capable of carrying up to 1,500 tonnes of cargo.
Ukraine's navy said it had achieved a direct hit on the Orsk, a Russian Alligator-class tank carrier, while it was anchored in the captured port of Berdyansk
Footage of the apparent hit circulating on social media shows thick black smoke surging above the port, as a fireball swirls underneath - suggesting the carrier exploded during the attack.
The destruction of the Orsk would be the biggest ship that Ukrainian forces have struck so far since Vladimir Putin's invasion last month.
'The Orsk large landing ship of the Black Sea Fleet of the occupiers has been destroyed in the port of Berdyansk captured by Russia,' the Ukrainian navy wrote on social media.
There was no immediate response to the claim from Russia's defence ministry.
The reported loss comes as pressure mounts on the Russian president to secure key cities in Ukraine amid fierce resistance.
Berdyansk is situated around 80 kilometres (50 miles) to the west of the strategic city of Mariupol, which has been encircled and heavily damaged by Russian forces.
Russia has been in possession of the port since Feb 27.
Thousands of civilians have escaped Mariupol through evacuation corridors but some 100,000 people remain lacking water and electricity.
Kyiv says more than 2,500 people have been killed in the city since the invasion began.
Russian forces have advanced further in southern Ukraine but only control Kherson, a town of approximately 200,000 people.