Ukrainian forces launch Neptune missile at Konstantin Olshansky ship in Crimea

The Ukrainian army attacked the Konstantin Olshansky landing ship, which the Russian occupation forces stole from Ukraine in 2014 during the annexation of Crimea

This was stated by Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy, on the air of the FREEDOM TV channel.

He recalled that the Konstantin Olshansky is a Ukrainian large amphibious assault ship that Russians seized from Ukraine in 2014 during the occupation of Crimea.

The ship had been in the Sevastopol bay for nine years. The Russians began dismantling it for spare parts and looting it.

According to the Navy spokesman, in the 10th year of the war, the occupation army realized that they were running out of large amphibious ships, so they decided to restore the Konstantin Olshansky within a year.

Pletenchuk noted that Russia wanted to present the Minsk or Olenegorsky Gornyak ships, which had been allegedly damaged by Ukraine earlier, as a restoration, but due to the significant damage, the restoration of the ships is questionable.

"This ship was to be used against Ukraine. Therefore, it was decided to hit this unit with our Neptune. The hit was accurate," Pletenchuk said.

He added that the degree of damage to the affected ship is currently being clarified, but it is definitely not combat-ready.

In addition, the Navy spokesman said that the Russian large amphibious assault ships Azov and Yamal, which were hit the day before, will not be able to perform combat missions in the near future, as well as the Ivan Khurs.

• In the evening of March 23, the Russians announced the alleged operation of air defense in the temporarily occupied Crimea. The defense forces hit large landing ships Yamal and Azov, a communications center, and several infrastructure facilities of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. The Russians also report damage to transportation infrastructure. Ukraine's Intelligence called the damage to the Russian large amphibious assault ship Yamal critical.
• Later, it was reported that another Russian reconnaissance ship, the Ivan Khurs, was probably damaged as a result of Ukraine's attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet facilities in occupied Sevastopol.