On August 4, 2023, the Russian landing ship Olenegorskiy Gornyak was hit by a surface drone. A good two weeks later, it is becoming apparent that repairs will prove difficult for Russia. This reports The Kyiv Independent with reference to Andrii Yuzov, spokesman for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and a corresponding interview on Ukrainian television.
According to Yuzov’s assessment, it will be “problematic” for Russia to repair the landing ship Olenegorskiy Gornyak (3,600 tons, 113 meters long). “This is a structure that was not made in Russia and the damage is very large,” Yuzov said. “Of course, we will not see Olenegorskiy Gornyak in the near future.”
According to the UK Ministry of Defense, it is a “serious blow to the (Russian) Black Sea Fleet.” The Olenegorskiy Gornyak is the “largest Russian naval vessel to be seriously damaged or destroyed since the sinking of the cruiser Moskva” in April last year.
According to the head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), Vasyl Maliuk, such attacks are “absolutely logical” and “completely legal”. He thus indirectly admitted that Ukraine was behind the August 4 attack.
Image: kremlin.ru, Совещание по развитию дальневосточных городов (2023-03-14) 02, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (image size modified)
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