Ukraine hits shipyard in Crimea's Kerch

Ukraine hit a shipyard in the city of Kerch with 15 cruise missiles on Saturday, damaging one...
Ukraine hit a shipyard in the city of Kerch with 15 cruise missiles on Saturday, damaging one ship, Russian news agencies cited the Russian defence ministry as saying. Photo: Getty Images
Ukraine's armed forces said they hit marine and port infrastructure at a shipyard in the port city of Kerch in Russian-occupied Crimea on Saturday.

Russian news agencies cited the Russian defence ministry as saying hit a shipyard in the city of Kerch with 15 cruise missiles on Saturday, damaging one ship.

The ministry said in a statement that air defence systems destroyed 13 of the Ukraine-launched missiles.

The peninsula's Russian-installed chief said downed missile fragments had hit a dry dock and that there were no casualties.

"The evening of Nov. 4 Armed Forces of Ukraine implemented successful strikes on marine and port infrastructure of the 'Zalyv' factory in the temporarily-occupied city of Kerch," the Department for Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a Telegram post, giving no further details.

"I hope another ship has followed the Moskva!" Mykola Oleshchuk, commander of Ukraine's air force, said in a Telegram post, referring to the Russian Black Sea Fleet flagship sunk by Ukrainian missiles on April 14, 2022.

Oleshchuk said cruise missiles struck the infrastructure at Zalyv - which is now named B.E. Butoma - "where one of the most modern Russian Navy ships was stationed, a Kalibr cruise missile carrier." He said he was "awaiting official confirmation of the results."

Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed head of Crimea, said air defence systems had been in action around a Kerch shipyard named after B.E. Butoma.

"Fragments of downed missiles fell onto territory of one of the dry docks," Aksyonov said in a Telegram post. "There were no casualties."

Reuters was unable to verify the Russian and Ukrainian statements, nor social media posts, including video, of missile activity and a fire and smoke the posts said was rising from the same location the Ukrainian military mentioned.

Military analyst and journalist Andriy Tsaplienko said in a Telegram post that one of Russia's most modern ships, a small cruise missile carrier launched in 2021, the Askold, was damaged in the attack, according to what he described as preliminary information.