The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has reported a series of strikes on Russian military assets in the occupied Crimean Peninsula. According to a statement released on April 18, the SBU’s special operations center, known as ‘Alpha’, conducted a comprehensive operation that reportedly damaged three Russian naval vessels.
The vessels targeted include:
- the large landing ship ‘Yamal’
- the large landing ship ‘Azov’
- an unidentified military ship
Additionally, the SBU claims to have information indicating potential damage to an anti-sabotage boat of project 21980, named ‘Grachonok’.
The agency also stated that its drones inflicted damage on the antenna block of the ‘Delfin’ communication system, the MR-10M1 ‘Mys-M1’ radar, and fuel tanks at the ‘Yugtorsan’ oil depot.
Independent verification of these claims by Radio Free Europe is not possible at this time, and the Russian command has not commented on the reported strikes against the vessels.
In a separate report, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that it had shot down 258 Ukrainian drones overnight on April 18, across various regions including Astrakhan, Belgorod, Bryansk, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kursk, Leningrad, Novgorod, Pskov, Rostov, Samara, Saratov, Smolensk, Tambov, Ulyanovsk, and the Krasnodar Territory, as well as in occupied Crimea and over the Azov and Black Seas.
Since 2022, the Crimean Peninsula has faced near-daily drone and missile attacks. In many instances, the Russian Ministry of Defense or local authorities do not confirm hits on military targets, even when such information is verifiable.
The Ukrainian Security Service reported strikes on Russian naval vessels in Crimea, claiming damage to multiple ships and military installations. The Russian Ministry of Defense has countered with claims of shooting down numerous Ukrainian drones.