Ukraine said on Saturday it destroyed a Russian military landing craft near the Serpents island in the Black Sea. In April, Ukrainian forces sank Russia’s main warship in the area.
In a Facebook post, the Ukrainian navy announced that the Turkish-developed Bayraktar TB2 fighter jet hit Russia’s “a landing craft belonging to the 11770 Serna project and two Tor type surface-to-air missile systems”. The shooting date, which was not confirmed by Moscow, was not communicated.
“On May 9, the traditional parade of the Russian fleet will take place at the bottom of the sea, on the island of Snakes,” said the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
In videos released by the Ukrainian military, a ship moored near a pier is struck by an explosion and then devastated by the flames, causing a huge cloud of smoke. The 26-meter-long Serna belongs to the class of Russian fast landing ships with a carrying capacity of 45 tons. Armed with 7.62 mm caliber machine guns and Igla missile launchers, the ship was designed to land combat vehicles and troops.
Earlier, the Ukrainian army claimed that it had bombed two Russian Raptor-class patrol boats on Serpents Island in early May, and another Bayraktar TB2 warplanes had hit it.
According to Kyiv and Washington, in mid-April the Russian fleet sank in the Black Sea after the jewel of Moscow was hit by Ukrainian missiles. Moscow also claimed that the ship was damaged in an explosion.
Serpents Island has become a symbol of resistance in Ukraine since a radio exchange that went viral on social media. On February 24, the first day of the conflict, Ukrainian border guards shouted, “Fuck you Russian military ship!” yell. to the cruiser Moskva, who ordered their surrender. Soon after, the ship bombarded the island, the Russians took control, and the Ukrainian soldiers were arrested. They were later released in a prisoner exchange with Moscow, but the recording of the conversation became a motivation for the Ukrainian resistance.
Withdrawal of civilians from the plant continues
Meanwhile, Russia’s offensive on Ukraine did not stop, even in the devastated Mariupol in the southeast, where Kiev announced the evacuation of another 50 people from the massive steelworks in Azovstal. Warriors and civilians are settled in the last stronghold of the resistance in the city.
On Saturday morning (7), the Ukrainian General Staff said that despite Moscow’s unilateral three-day ceasefire since Thursday, Russian forces continue their offensive at this large industrial complex. So far, around 500 civilians have been evacuated from Azovstal, thanks to humanitarian corridors organized by the UN and the Red Cross.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said “50 women, children and the elderly” managed to escape on Friday and operations continued on Saturday. According to him, Russian troops “constantly violated” the ceasefire, so the rescue of civilians was “extremely slow.”
The last fighters of the city’s Azov battalion are also entrenched in the steel mill’s labyrinth of complex underground passages, some with wounded civilians.
Final tension before May 9
“Mariupol will never fall … Destroyed, nothing is left, everything is destroyed,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a video conference organized by London’s Chatham House think tank on Friday. Said.
Oleksii Arestovich, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, denounced that Russia was “trying to liquidate Azovstal’s supporters and trying to do this before May 9 as a gift to Vladimir Putin.”
Every year on this date, Russia celebrates the Day of Soviet Victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 with a massive military parade on Moscow’s Red Square. This Saturday, the last rehearsals of the parade took place in the Russian capital.
Vladimir Putin’s speech will be another occasion for the president to address Western leaders and issue new warnings, after Russian officials have mentioned the threat of using nuclear weapons several times in recent weeks.
With information from AFP
source: Noticias
