• Ukraine claims to have struck two of Russia's landing ships in occupied Crimea.
  • The strike also hit a Russian military comms centre and Black Sea fleet infrastructure.
  • Russia's pride-and-joy Black Sea fleet is a major target for Ukrainian strikes.

Ukraine struck two of Russia's large landing ships in occupied Crimea in the late hours of March 23, Ukrainian Armed Forces confirmed on March 24.

The strike also hit a Russian military communications center and some Black Sea fleet infrastructure.

Footage shared on social media appeared to show a large blast in the city, sending a fireball and plume of black smoke into the air, and what appeared to be Russian air defenses intercepting incoming projectiles.

Business Insider has not been able to independently verify the Ukrainian claim, though open-source intelligence analysts have confirmed the hits on Sevastopol through local sources.

According to OSINTtechnical project, at least three Storm Shadow missiles were used to take out the Russian communication tower.

The ships Ukraine claims to have hit, the Yamal, with 98 crew members, and the Azov, with 87 crew members, belong to the 197th Landing Ships Brigade of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The are frequently used in the fleet's exercises and training, according to Ukrainska Pravda.

In the spring of 2022, Krym.Realii - a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty project - reported that the Azov and Yamal were under repair in one of Sevastopol's shipyards.

Following the strike, the commander of Ukraine's Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk, thanked the pilots and sailors for their "successful combat work."

The Russian authorities did not report the attack. But the Russian-appointed head of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, wrote on Telegram that the evening attack on Sevastopol had been "the largest in recent times."

He claimed that 10 Ukrainian missiles had been shot down.

Houses in the city center had their windows smashed in, and a 65-year-old Sevastopol resident was killed from a missile shrapnel, he claimed.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Russia launched 57 missiles and drones in the attacks on Ukraine, Reuters said, some of which struck critical infrastructure in the western city of Lviv and targeted the capital Kyiv.

Ukraine described it as the largest aerial bombardment of its energy system since the war began.

Moscow said that the attacks were retaliation for recent strikes inside Russia.

Russia's Black Sea fleet is a major target for Ukraine

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russia's Black Sea fleet — often considered the pride and joy of Russia's navy.

Last month, Ukraine claimed it had sunk the Russian landing ship Caesar Kunikov off the coast of Crimea using its vaunted sea drones. Its sister ship, the Novocherkassk, was struck in the port of Feodosiya in December 2023.

One of the largest attacks on Russia's Black Sea fleet came in September last year when Ukraine struck several naval targets and port infrastructure. The attack caused a huge fire at a Sevastopol shipyard.

In the early months of the war, Ukraine sank Russia's flagship Black Sea missile cruiser, the Moskva.

Kyiv continues to insist that it plans to retake Crimea and all other occupied territories of Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

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