Blow to Kremlin’s image: Ukraine’s Air Force on destruction of Askold ship in Crimea

He told about this on Espreso TV.

"We are striking quite successfully, tactical aviation pilots did it. Accordingly, this operation is planned by the highest military leadership in cooperation with various services, intelligence, everything works quite effectively. The same operation against the Russian warship at the bottom (we are talking about the Moskva cruiser - ed.) was also a joint effort of everyone, and Bayraktar worked with Neptunes and other units," Ihnat stressed.

The spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force assures that the military operation to destroy the Moskva cruiser is unique and will be included in history and military textbooks.

Regarding the elimination of the Russian Askold in Kerch, the military said: "Why not, if it is in the port, the ship, one of the newest, most modern, which is a carrier of the Kinzhal missiles (Kh-47 - ed.) is definitely a big target."

Ihnat said that if Russia had taken the ship to the Black Sea, it would have posed a serious danger to Ukraine.

"Thus, without conducting any combat operations, a very expensive ship was hit. Of course, this will not weaken Russia's position that much, they still have enough ships in the Black Sea Fleet, and they probably have missiles in short supply. But this is a serious blow to the image of the Kremlin regime and another blow to the facilities in Crimea. This shows that the Ukrainian forces are reaching both the Russian navy and the Russian occupiers in any direction in Crimea. We can see that Kerch was also hit. Crimea will be Ukrainian," the military stressed.

The destruction of the Askold cruise-missile carrier

The Askold was the latest ship of the Karakurt project with stealth technology and eight silos for launching Kalibr cruise missiles. One of its features was the presence of the Pantsir-S1, a naval air defense system.

On November 4, explosions were heard in the temporarily occupied Crimea: the Ukrainian Armed Forces confirmed successful strikes on the Zaliv shipyard and damage to the Russian Askold missile carrier.

On the morning of November 5, the damage to one of the most modern ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Kalibr cruise missile carrier, was confirmed by the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk. On November 6, the ministry confirmed the damage to the Russian missile carrier Askold and published a photo of the damaged ship. 

Later, the Russian Ministry of Defense acknowledged the missile attack on the Zaliv shipyard in the temporarily occupied Crimea. Radio Liberty showed satellite images showing the damage to the ship. The ship was heavily damaged and is likely beyond repair.

The representative of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, Andriy Yusov, said that preparations are underway for a number of operations similar to the events in Kerch.