Large Russian navy ship ‘Saratov’ destroyed in Berdyansk: Ukraine

Ukrainian defence forces on Friday officially identified a large Russian landing ship at the Berdyansk port that they claimed to have destroyed a day earlier.

While initial reports had said that Ukrainian forces had destroyed a Russian ship named ‘Orsk’, the defence forces on Friday said that the ship that had been destroyed was named ‘Saratov’.

“In the Azov operational zone, according to updated information, a large landing ship ‘Saratov’ was destroyed during the attack on the occupied Berdyansk port. Large landing ships ‘Caesar Kunikov’ and ‘Novocherkassk’ were [also] damaged. Other losses of the enemy are being clarified,” the Ukrainian armed forces said in a statement on Friday, as per a CNN report.

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Over the past several days, Russian ships had been unloading equipment and supplies at the occupied Berdyansk port in Ukraine, reports by Russian media outlets suggest.

Subsequently, on Thursday, photos and videos were circulated on social media that showed large explosions take place at the Berdyansk port where the ‘Saratova’ was docked, along with other Russian ships. A large fire was also seen burning in the port after the explosions.

Following reports of the Ukrainian attack on the docked Russian ships, US defence officials reportedly said that Ukraine likely did carry out a successful attack on Russian ships at the Berdyansk port, without specifying what weapons were used in the attack.

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The British Ministry of Defence, similarly, issued a statement saying that Ukrainian forces had carried out a successful attack on “high-value” Russian targets, including a large landing ship and an ammunitions depot in Berdyansk.

The port of Berdyansk, which has a small naval base, is located roughly 45 kilometres from the besieged city of Mariupol in Ukraine’s south.

Berdyansk fell to Russian forces three days after the invasion began on February 24.