Ukrainian Navy says a third of Russian warships in the Black Sea destroyed or disabled

(Patria) - Ukraine has sunk or disabled a third of all Russian warships in the Black Sea in just over two years of war, a navy spokesman said on Tuesday, AP reported.

Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said the latest attack on Saturday evening hit the Russian landing ship Kostiantyn Olshansky, which was docked in Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea. The ship was part of the Ukrainian Navy before Russia took it when it annexed the peninsula in 2014.

Pletenchuk previously announced that two other landing ships of the same type, Azov and Yamal, were also damaged in Saturday's strike along with the intelligence ship Ivan Khurs. He told AP that the weekend attack, launched with Ukrainian-made Neptune missiles, also hit port facilities in Sevastopol and an oil depot.

Russian authorities reported a massive Ukrainian attack on Sevastopol over the weekend but did not acknowledge damage to the fleet.

Pletenchuk said the latest attack destroyed or disabled a third of all warships the Russians had in the Black Sea before the war. At the same time, he admitted that only two of the dozen Russian warships armed with missiles were sunk and promised that Ukraine would continue its strikes.

"Our ultimate goal is the complete absence of warships of the so-called Russian Federation in the Azov and Black Sea region," Pletenchuk said.

Successful Ukrainian drone and missile strikes have provided a significant morale boost to Kyiv at a time when its forces are facing shortages of personnel and weapons and Russian attacks along a front line of more than 1,000 kilometers.

Challenging Russian naval superiority has also helped create more favorable conditions for Ukrainian grain exports and other shipments from the country's Black Sea ports.

Moscow officials have remained silent about most of Ukraine's claims, but previous navy losses have been confirmed by Russian military bloggers and media outlets that have sharply criticized the military for a slow and clumsy response to the threat.

Earlier this month, Russian media reported that the head of the navy, Admiral Nikolai
Yevmenov, had been dismissed and replaced by Admiral Alexander Moiseyev, commander of Russia's Northern Fleet. The Kremlin has not yet announced the change, but last week Moiseyev was presented as the new acting head of the navy at a ceremony at a Russian naval base.