A RUSSIAN ship that could have carried dozens of tanks and hundreds of paratroopers has been destroyed in the Black Sea by Ukrainian forces, Kyiv has said.
Following reports of a fire raging in the city of Berdyansk, the Ukrainian military has said a ship belonging to Vladimir Putin’s army has been destroyed in the Russian-occupied port. Named Orsk, the Alligator-class tank carrier could transport up to 20 tanks, 45 armoured personnel carriers and 400 paratroopers, according to Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar, who told nation TV the military had hit a “huge target”. Two other boats have been damaged, too.
Ukraine’s security service said: “At 7 am The Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed a large landing ship Orsk of the occupying army near the seaport of Berdyansk. Two more ships were damaged.”Also, a 3,000-ton fuel tank was destroyed. The fire spread to the enemy’s ammunition depot. Details of the damage inflicted on the occupier are being clarified.”
The Ukrainian Navy wrote on Facebook in a brief post: “A large paratrooper ship Orsk of the black sea fleet of occupiers was destroyed in the occupied Russian port Berdyansk.”Glory to Ukraine!”
Berdyansk, which is west of the besieged port of Mariupol in the Avoz Sea, was seized four days into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The takedown of the Orsk follows protests against the occupation of Berdyansk staged by residents who could be seen beaten by the military in videos circulating on social media this week.
Berdyansk is of major strategic value to the Russians – firstly, because Moscow says it has used the port as a base to ferry in military equipment for its forces; secondly, because of its position.
It lies between Crimea and the besieged city of Mariupol, some 80km to the east, where an estimated 100,000 people remain trapped after weeks of intense Russian bombardment.
Some of those who have managed to escape Mariupol have arrived in Berdyansk and Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, has said they will be taken inland to the city of Zaporizhzhia.
Capturing the town of Berdyansk — as well as Melitopol — is part of the Kremlin’s bid to create a land bridge from Crimea to the Russian border and to establish a route towards Zaporizhzhia, the southeastern city home to the nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, that Russian troops seized on March 4.
Ukrainian officials said the attack on the Orsk vessel had added symbolic value, suggesting it may have taken part in Russia’s original annexation of Crimea in 2014, pointing to medals seemingly awarded to the ship’s commander and a crewman.
370ft in size, it is also the biggest ship Ukrainian forces have struck since the start of the war – just three days after Russian state media filmed it having armoured vehicles unloaded from it, which were set to reinforce troops in nearby Mariupol.
The Russian TASS news agency had described the arrival of the landing craft as “an epic event” that “opens up opportunities for the Black Sea in terms of logistics”.
Source: Express UK