A Russian warship operating in the Black Sea was hit and left burning by a Ukrainian cruise missile, news reports and social media reported on Friday.
The UNIAN news agency citing the government social media website Dumska said the vessel was a “Burevestnik” class frigate, at midday located near Zmiyiniy [Snake] Island, offshore from the Danube delta. The usually-reliable Gruz200 military news web platform said a naval source confirmed that a Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missile struck the vessel.
The Dumska statement likewise said a Ukrainian Neptune missile hit the ship, and that “large numbers” of Russian aircraft were circling overhead.
A maritime ship tracker showed a Russian rescue ship identified as SPK-46150 en route to the location following a late Thursday night dispatch. An aviation tracker website showed a US Air Force Global Hawk long-range reconnaissance drone over the location at 0500 Friday morning.
There was no immediate Ukraine Armed Forces (UAF) or Russian Federation (RF) confirmation of the strike. The Livemap military information graphic resource said the vessel was an Admiral Grigorievich class frigate.
Ukrainian parliament member Oleksiy Honcharenko in a web statement claimed the warship hit was the Admiral Makarov, a vessel known to have been operating in the west Black Sea for more than a month.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet’s largest warship and flagship, the Moskva, was sunk nearby on Apr. 14, after being struck by two Ukrainian anti-ship missiles.
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