Ukraine Claims to Have Destroyed Large Russian Warship With Storm Shadow Cruise Missile

Russia acknowledges a missile attack on warship Novocherkassk, which Ukraine claims to have destroyed in a cruise missile strike in the early hours of Boxing Day.

Ukraine appears to have come out of Christmas Day determined to make an impact, as they claim to have destroyed another Russian warship, this time with an air-launched cruise missile strike. Russia acknowledged the attack on the Ropucha-class Novocherkassk, a 1980s-vintage landing ship similar in size to the U.S.-made Freedom-class warship, saying that one person had been killed in the strike.

Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk of the Ukrainian Air Force thanks his pilots for the “fine work” and noted in a statement that the Russian fleet “is getting smaller and smaller”. Ukrainian Pravda reports remarks of the spokesman for the Ukrainian armed forces Yurii Ihnat, who gave more detail on the strike, saying fighter jets launched a barrage of Anglo-French Storm Shadow / SCALP cruise missiles at the target, hoping at least one of the group would evade Russian air defences.

He is reported to have said that the size of the blast suggested a detonation of ammunition aboard. Indeed, Ukrainian state media shared video footage they claimed was of the attack, showing an enormous explosion and a great column of fire reaching into the sky after the initial hit. Given cruise missiles are intended to deliver a powerful but highly concentrated strike to punch through armored targets, the very large and long explosion shown in the Ukrainian-shared footage suggests large quantities of ammunition carried aboard the Novocherkassk may have cooked off, greatly contributing to the blast.

Russia said only that the ship had been “damaged”, and that nearby buildings in the Crimean port of Feodosia had windows blown out by the blast. It also claimed to have shot down two Ukrainian Sukhoi SU-24 fighter jets which it said were part of the attack on the Novocherkassk.

Russian state media TASS also said locals who recorded the attack on their cell phones and posted the videos to social media — which were shared by Ukraine as evidence of the strike — have already been identified and face criminal penalties for distributing military intelligence. Ukraine has similar laws and also punishes citizens for recording the aftermaths of attacks.

Russia’s class of Ropucha landing ships have become a favourite target for Ukrainian strikes since Moscow re-launched its invasion last year. At least four of them have been damaged in several strikes, and it is reported the Novocherkassk which Ukraine claims to have destroyed in the early hours of this morning was previously hit and damaged by Ukrainian forces in March 2022.

Equipped with bow doors and loading ramps front and rear, the ships are meant to rapidly deliver large amounts of men, equipment, and ammunition to landing beaches. This has made them a potent weapon in the Black Sea in the past, but as noted of late Ukraine has proven extremely adept at striking Russia’s fleet in the area and has pushed it eastwards as it seeks anchorages out of cruise missile range.

Ukraine sank Russia’s Black Sea Fleet flagship the Moskva in 2022, and this year made an audacious attack on the fleet headquarters in Crimea itself, pounding the building with two cruise missiles. Russia’s withdrawal of naval forces from the area has been called a “functional defeat” at Ukraine’s hands with British-supplied cruise missiles by the UK, with Armed Forces Minister James Heappey calling the theatre very important.

He told a defence conference this year: “the progress in Ukraine over the past few months has been slow, nobody can pretend otherwise, but anyone who thinks there was no progress at all is simply wrong… the importance of what has happened in the Black Sea over the last couple of weeks where a Russian submarine and a Russian ship have been put out of action and the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet has been put out of action too.”

“The functional defeat of the Black Sea Fleet — and I would argue that is what it is because it has been forced to disperse to ports from which it cannot have an effect on Ukraine — and every bit as important as [what was happening on land] last year.”