what we know about the attack on the iconic Russian ship “Kommouna” in Crimea

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The Ukrainian Defense announced that the “Kommouna” was unable to function after Sunday’s attack. Responsible for rescue operations, the ship anchored in Sevastopol, home port of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.

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This archival image shows the port of Sevastopol, in annexed Crimea, before the missile attack that destroyed the headquarters of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, September 22, 2023. (PLANET LABS PBC / AFP)

“Another dark day for the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.” The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense made ironic remarks about the social network Kommouna, a rescue ship of the Russian military fleet, which was anchored in Sevastopol. Located in this home port of the Russian fleet, in the annexed Crimean peninsula, on the shores of the Black Sea, the vessel would now be unable to operate. Franceinfo summarizes what we know about this blow to the Russian fleet, which loses one of its most emblematic ships.

A ship “no longer able to fulfill its functions”

“Today the Ukrainian Navy hit the Russian rescue ship Kommouna in temporarily occupied Crimea”said Dmytro Pletentchouk, spokesperson for the Ukrainian navy, on Facebook. “The nature of the damage is being verifiedhe addedbut it is clear that the ship is no longer able to fulfill its functions.” Although we do not know exactly how the ship was damaged by the Ukrainian army, the latter has Neptune anti-ship missiles, as recalled The world.

The governor of Sevastopol installed by Russia, Mikhail Razvojaevhad earlier declared that the Russian army had “repelled an attack by an anti-ship missile” against a boat from the big port city. He did not specify the name of the vessel attacked, but stated that “Falling fragments caused a small fire, which was quickly extinguished”.

One of the oldest military buildings in the world

THE Kommounafirst called Volkhov when it was launched in 1915, was renamed thus in 1922, in reference to the Paris Commune, recalls West France. He is responsible for high seas rescues, recovering sunken submarines or lost cargo. It is one of the oldest Russian military ships still in operation, kyiv said. It participated in both world wars, and it is even the oldest military ship still in service in the world, according to several military sites.

During the Second World War, he notably participated in the defense of Leningrad, besieged by the Germans, allowing “to recover tanks and vehicles that fell into the waters of Lake Ladoga”writing West France. 96 meters long, it can displace 3,100 tonnes fully loaded and its crew includes 99 men, specifies the daily. During the conflict in Ukraine, it was used in operations to find the wreck and the bodies of the sailors of the flagship Moscowwhich sank in the Black Sea in April 2022, recalls BFMTV. “It constitutes a legitimate target and gives the Russian Navy valuable capabilities”analyzed naval expert HI Sutton on the social network

Russian ships, favored targets of the Ukrainian army

This kind of attacks “will continue until the Russians run out of ships or leave Crimea”, warned the spokesperson for the Ukrainian navy. This territory of southern Ukraine, annexed by Moscow in 2014, is regularly the scene of Ukrainian attacks against the Russian fleet. Last February, Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR) assured that it had succeeded in “to flow” star Ivanovets. In November 2023, a shipyard occupied by the Russians was the target of kyiv, then, a month later, it was the ship Novocherkassk which had been hit by a Ukrainian missile. Strategic strikes which made it possible, in two years, to make “functionally inactive” the Russian fleet, in the words used by the British Secretary of State for Defense, Grant Shapps.

In total, kyiv claims to have destroyed up to 30% of Russian warships, thanks in particular to Ukrainian-built naval drones. These machines “cost nothing”, estimates Huseyn Aliyev, specialist in Eastern Europe at the University of Glasgow, to AFP. According to him, the number of drones involved in operations on land and sea has increased significantly. “amazing” in two years of Russian invasion of Ukraine. “It’s probably the number one weapon these days, more important than artillery and armored vehicles”, he observes. A weapon which, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, allows Russia to understand “that aggression really has a price”.


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