Ukrainian missile strike damages Russian vessel at shipyard in annexed Crimea

On the evening of November 4, Ukraine’s Armed Forces carried out a missile strike on the Zaliv shipyard in the city of Kerch in annexed Crimea, reports Interfax, referencing a statement by Russia’s Defense Ministry.

According to the ministry, Russian air defenses shot down 13 of 15 missiles. The ministry added that one of the ships at the shipyard was damaged in the attack.

Mykola Oleshchuk, Commander of Ukraine’s Air Force, wrote that the attack on the Zaliv shipyard was carried out by Ukrainian tactical aircraft. According to him, “one of the most modern ships in Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, a Kalibr cruise missile carrier” was located at the shipyard at the time of the attack.

The commander hinted that Ukraine’s Armed Forces used SCALP cruise missiles (the French version of British Storm Shadow missiles) to carry out the attack.

The Kremlin-appointed head of annexed Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, had previously reported an attack near the shipyard. According to him, missile debris crashed near one of the dry docks and no one was injured.

The Ukrainian investigative news project Schemes published satellite imagery of the shipyard. The images were taken by the company Planet Labs on October 31, 2023 and November 5, 2023.

Ukrainian Navy Captain Andriy Ryzhenko told Schemes that it was likely that the Askold, a small cruise missile carrier, was damaged in the attack.