Ukraine said Tuesday it had sunk a Russian patrol ship off the coast of occupied Crimea.
They marked it as another victory over the Kremlin's forces in the hotly contested waters of the Black Sea, reports NBC News.
Moscow did not confirm the claim, which would represent the latest blow to its naval power as Kyiv strikes targets deep behind the war's front lines even as its army suffers setbacks on the battlefield.
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said that it had used high-tech sea drones in an overnight attack on the large patrol ship Sergey Kotov near the Kerch Strait, which separates the annexed peninsula’s eastern coast from mainland Russia.
The agency published a video purporting to show the ship being blown up and going up in flames. It did not say anything about the fate of the ship’s crew.
NBC News could not independently verify the video, or confirm the extent of the damage to the ship or personnel losses.
The ship can reportedly carry cruise missiles and around 60 crew, according to The Associated Press.
A Telegram channel tracking traffic on the nearby Kerch Bridge said traffic was temporarily suspended overnight, without specifying the reason. The traffic on the bridge resumed early Tuesday.
Ukraine has dealt Russia's Black Sea Fleet a number of costly blows in the last year, despite an unsuccessful counteroffensive on the ground.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
