Kommuna may not have been intended target: Defense Express on strike on Russian Black Sea Fleet rescue ship

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

"Regarding the strike on the Kommuna rescue ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, an important argument is what was used to strike. It seems to me that the answer to this question shows that perhaps the Kommuna was not the target. The fact is that the Kommuna is a rather important rare vessel, in service since 1915 as part of the Russian Empire's navy, a historical vessel that remembers the First World War. It is the oldest vessel in the Russian Navy that performed real missions. The reason for targeting this specific ship, most likely, is due to it being struck by a Ukrainian Neptune missile," commented Defense Express editor-in-chief.

According to him, this is not the first time such a missile has struck targets in Sevastopol Bay. During a combined attack in March, one of the ships in the occupied bay was hit.

"But what is the aspect when we talk about Neptune, it is a missile that has a radar homing head with a feature of targeting the largest target. For example, if there is an order of ships, including a cruiser and small corvettes, it is more important to hit the cruiser. So, when we look at the Kommuna, we see that it is a rather large vessel with a very unusual design - a catamaran, as well as huge arched structures that look like a bridge. And this whole structure looks like a very powerful ship on any radar station. And given that this ship was standing in the quay wall next to such large ships, but still less radio-contrasting as patrol ships, of which there were two, if I'm not mistaken, there was also a large landing ship, but the Kommuna looks bigger on the radar than it is due to its design," said Oleh Katkov.

• On the morning of April 21, locals reported loud sounds of explosions in occupied Sevastopol. The Crimean bridge was also blocked. Later it became known that the Ukrainian Navy had hit the Kommuna rescue ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.