Ukrainian Navy reveals Russian plans for Zalyv plant in Kerch, built before Crimea’s annexation

He said this on Espreso TV.

According to him, the Zalyv plant in Kerch has quite serious modern equipment, and even the Russians were surprised.

"They use it, as you can see, to equip these Karakurt-class ships. As for Askold itself, whose name they are also trying to steal from Ukrainian history, it has been lifted out of the water. It is now at the dock, they will most likely repair it," Pletenchuk said.

The military said this series of ships is quite interesting, although the ships themselves are new, but the project is old, dating back to the 90s, and after Crimea's annexation, Russians were forced to return to it: "Because in 2014 Russia stopped receiving the appropriate units for a larger series of ships from Ukraine, they were even forced to sell a couple of them to India without power units and return to this project."

In total, the Russian Federation has five Karakurt-class ships, including Amur, Tucha, and Cyclone, a destroyed Askold, and one more is not ready. It is reported that a few days ago the enemy launched one of the new ships, Tucha, into the Black Sea, now near Novorossiysk, and the first of them, Cyclone, is now being used to guard the Sevastopol base as an air defense ship: "It's actually a bit funny, because it was not built for that."

"As you can see, the plant itself was not damaged, after all, it is our Ukrainian property and we are not interested in tearing apart our own plant. Why do it when you can wait until the final stage of production and destroy what they have invested in at the final stage," he concluded.

What is known about the destruction of the Askold

"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 Pantsyr-S1 naval type, the ship's air defense system.

On November 4, explosions were heard in the temporarily occupied Crimea: the Armed Forces confirmed successful strikes on the Zalyv Shipbuilding Yard 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, during the attack on Kerch November 4 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 Defense Ministry recognized the missile attack on the Zalyv Shipbuilding Yard in the temporarily occupied Crimea. "Radio Liberty showed satellite images showing the damage to the ship. The ship was heavily damaged and probably beyond repair. 

British intelligence assessed the consequences for Russia of the Ukrainian strike on the Askold ship in Kerch.