Kyiv Claims Possible Hit on Another Russian Ship in March 23 Attack on Crimea

The spokesperson for the Ukrainian Naval Forces (VMS), Dmytro Pletenchuk, revealed on Radio Svoboda that during the March 23 attack on Crimea, another Russian vessel, the Ivan Khurs, may have sustained damage.

Pletenchuk clarified that the information concerning damage to Russian ships requires thorough verification, and thus the VMS presents it with caution.

“Just this morning, I confirmed the damage to both ships, Yamal and Azov,” he stated.

“Now, there are also concerns regarding the potential damage to the Ivan Khurs. We are currently working to verify this information,” he added.

The Ivan Khurs is a Russian medium reconnaissance ship tasked with operations in near and far sea zones, as well as oceanic regions. Its responsibilities include communications support, fleet management, and conducting radio reconnaissance and electronic warfare.

Named after Vice Admiral Ivan Khurs, who led the Intelligence Department of the Main Staff of the USSR Navy from 1979 to 1987, the ship plays a crucial role in Russian naval operations.

Kyiv Post has reached out to the Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) for their assessment of the likelihood of the Ivan Khurs being hit. At the time of publication, a response is pending.

This is not the first instance of Ukrainian reports regarding potential damage to this ship. In May 2023, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense released footage captured by a maritime drone moments before an impact with a Russian vessel.

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The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Ukrainian unmanned speedboats attacked this warship in the Black Sea, near the approaches to the Bosphorus Strait.

“All enemy boats were neutralized by fire from the standard armament of a Russian ship 140 kilometers northeast of the Bosphorus,” the Russian report said.

According to the footage released by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, a naval kamikaze drone struck the Ivan Khurs in 2023.

Pletenchuk added that the extent of damage to the Yamal and Azov ships is still being assessed.

Nataliya Humenyuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Operational Command South (OC South), reported that the strike on the Yamal and Azov has significantly impacted Russian logistics and military management.

In the temporarily occupied Sevastopol, on March 23, the 13th ship repair plant of the Black Sea Fleet was targeted, where the Yamal was moored among other vessels. The HUR reported that the damage to the ship was severe.

The HUR disclosed that the damage to the ship was critical, with a hole in the upper deck causing it to list to starboard.

“The occupiers are actively pumping water out of the damaged vessel, which played a role in the annexation of Crimea and had been under repair from 2017 to 2023,” the report said.

Ukraine claimed on Sunday that it had targeted two Russian military vessels stationed in Crimea, the occupied peninsula, during overnight strikes amid another wave of “intense” Russian aerial assaults.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) reportedly successfully hit the amphibious landing ships Yamal and Azov, along with a communications center and various infrastructure sites of the Black Sea Fleet, as stated by the AFU’s Strategic Communications Center on Sunday.

Officials installed by Moscow on the peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, claimed that their forces repelled a significant Ukrainian aerial assault late Saturday night.

Describing it as the most substantial attack in recent memory, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-appointed governor of Sevastopol, mentioned in a Telegram post that a 65-year-old man was killed and four others were injured. However, he made no mention of any damage to Russian warships.

Footage circulating on social media depicted a powerful explosion in the city, sending a fireball and a plume of black smoke into the sky, accompanied by what seemed to be Russian air defenses intercepting incoming projectiles.

Since the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion, Ukraine has claimed to have destroyed approximately a third of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, often through nighttime attacks utilizing sea-based drones armed with explosives.