Russia will replace Novocherkassk warship not earlier than 2035-2036 - expert Katkov

He said this on Espreso TV.

"The cost of the destroyed large amphibious assault ship Novocherkassk is USD 85 million, but this is obviously the price for a ship that was commissioned in 1987, such a cost calculation may indeed have a basis, but in the matter of weapons it is more correct to calculate the replacement price," explains the editor-in-chief of Defence Express.

According to Katkov, Russia now has the capability to produce large dessert ships of the updated design, in particular at the Yantar shipyard in Kaliningrad. If we calculate the cost of the Petr Morgunov, it is USD 280 million, taking into account inflation: "In the case of the updated version, which is larger, we will definitely be talking about more than USD 300 million for one ship, but in addition to the cost, we also need to consider time, because time is also a rather significant resource.”

Currently, Russia is producing two ships that will be delivered to the customer no earlier than 2025-2026, after which production facilities will be freed up and two more will be laid down, which will be produced in 2030-2031.

"Considering that this is the third large amphibious assault ship destroyed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Black and Azov Seas, it means that the next two will be delivered to the customer no earlier than 2035-2036. This is the timeframe for restoring the loss of the Novocherkassk large amphibious assault ship that was destroyed in Feodosia," the military expert summarized.

What is known about the destruction of the Novocherkassk

At night, on December 26, residents of Feodosia in Russian-occupied Crimea reported loud explosions over the city. Later, the head of the Ukrainian Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk, confirmed the information about the destruction of the large landing ship Novocherkassk.

The Air Force also reported that the large landing ship Novocherkassk was attacked by cruise missiles from tactical aircraft around 02:30 a.m. The Air Force reported it as destroyed.

Operational Command South’s press center head Natalia Humeniuk said during the telethon that the large detonation was caused not just by fuel or ammunition from the ship itself, but probably by the cargo on board.

Instead, Krym.Realii reported that two Russian warships left Feodosia Bay a few hours after the Ukrainian military attacked the port and the Novocherkassk landing ship.

The Russians sent a large group of operatives to Feodosia to investigate the destruction of the Novocherkassk landing ship, Atesh reports.