Ukraine damaged or destroyed two Russian warships harbored in occupied Sevastopol on Wednesday, according to sources on both sides of the conflict, just one week after it was revealed that SpaceX founder Elon Musk refused to let his Starlink internet service help Kyiv target their missiles.
Former NATO commander, U.S. Army general Ben Hodges, back in February called it a “priority” that, to avoid major bloodshed, Kyiv “use long-range precision strike[s] to isolate Crimea, then make it untenable for Russian forces” to remain there.
Videos and photos of the burning wrecks have been posted online by Russian milbloggers, and they are impressive.
Russian-occupied Sevastopol has been hit. It is said that the ship yards at the South Bay have been hit.
Russian air defense was also active but obviously was not successful to intercept all incoming missiles.
Source: https://t.co/A5sqjl8nee#Ukraine #Sevastopol #Crimea pic.twitter.com/cNzsGeAlPP
— (((Tendar))) (@Tendar) September 13, 2023
The first ship seen burning is the Minsk, one of Russia’s few amphibious landing ships. The Ropucha-class vessel was commissioned in 1983 and was one of six amphibs that deployed from other fleets to the Black Sea immediately prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion last year. “Those six ships,” I noted at the time, “represent a significant fraction of Russia’s amphibious capacity.” Presumably, Russian strongman Vlad Putin’s flotilla was supposed to launch a Marine-style assault on Ukraine’s vital port city of Odesa.
That invasion didn’t materialize, and now, at least for the Minsk, it might never.
The other ship — a “boat,” really — was an Improved Kilo-class attack sub named Rostov-on-Don. The boat was commissioned into service not quite nine years ago and is one of just 10 of the Russian Navy’s most advanced Kilos currently in service.
Minsk had reportedly been involved in shelling Ukraine, and Rostov and at least one other Kilo-class sub had taken part in missile strikes on Ukraine — and you know what they say about payback.
The ships had been drydocked at a local repair yard, presumably for maintenance or other work, but no further details are known. The drydocks seem to have suffered significant damage as well.
Flames engulfed the #Sevastopol Shipyard in #Russia occupied #Crimea after a fiery, late-night Ukrainian cruise missile attack. This is the largest attack on Sevastopol’s naval headquarters, according to the @nytimes.#Ukraine #OSINT pic.twitter.com/3xIR2DyZyz
— BlackSky (@BlackSky_Inc) September 13, 2023
Moscow admits that both ships were damaged, but from the looks of those flames… it will be a long time before either one is ready for action again, if ever.
Other than today’s impressive airstrike, there hasn’t been much to report about the Ukraine War — except for one thing that I’ll get to in a moment. Since Kyiv’s counteroffensive began earlier this summer, it’s been a deadly grind for both sides, with Ukraine making mostly small advances in places all along the front.
The advance has been held up mostly by just three things. Kyiv’s lack of air cover demands caution, and so do Moscow’s layers of trenches and minefields. The seemingly endless supply of Russian troops is a real headache. It’s true that Russian soldiers aren’t well-led, well-trained, or well-armed. But a guy with a gun in a trench still needs to be rooted out and/or killed, no matter his quality or fighting spirit.
It takes time.
That brings me to the one important bit of news you won’t read in many other places. For all the talk about sending Ukraine more modern tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and even jets, what they need just as badly — if not more so — is mine-clearing equipment. Clearing mines isn’t nearly as sexy as driving a modern Abrams tank or flying an F-16 Falcon, but forgetting the unsexy stuff loses battles and even wars. It was, after all, largely a lack of unsexy items like fuel and spare tires that stalled Russia’s blitz on Kyiv in March of last year, leading to Moscow’s humiliating retreat.
For the want of a nail…
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