Russian Ship Blast Was So Violent, Ship Pieces Found Throughout Crimean City

The explosion that destroyed the Russian warship Novocherkassk while it was docked in the Crimean port of Fedosiya was so violent that pieces of the ship are being discovered all over the city. 

Aside from the impact of the Ukrainian missiles themselves, the ship was carrying a cargo of Iranian Shahed drones which contributed to the extreme impact of the explosion. Photos taken in daylight the next day show the blackened hulk of the ship nestled in the water. Dozens of crew members are reported 'missing.' JL  

Aila Slisco reports in Newsweek:

Pieces of Russian warship Novocherkassk have reportedly been found scattered throughout the Crimean port city of Feodosiya. "Numerous fragments of the Novocherkassk can be seen in the vicinity. Debris (is) stuck almost a meter into the ground. The windowpanes of five-story houses were blown out." It is unclear now many crew members may have been on board Novocherkassk at the time of the explosion but dozens of crew have been reported "missing." Ukraine had destroyed 20% of Russia's Black Sea fleet over the past four months. Moscow's "dominance in the Black Sea is now challenged."

Pieces of Russian warship Novocherkassk, which Ukraine says it destroyed, have reportedly been found scattered throughout the Crimean port city of Feodosiya.

Ukrainian Air Force commander Mykola Oleschuk shared a video purporting to show the ship exploding in a massive fireball to Telegram on Tuesday, while thanking the force's pilots and boasting that Russia's Black Sea fleet "is getting smaller and smaller."

Russia acknowledged that the ship was hit in a Ukrainian airstrike on the Feodosiya port but said in a statement that the vessel was only "damaged." Moscow also claimed that it "destroyed two enemy Su-24 tactical bombers" responsible for the attack. Anton Gerashchenko, adviser for the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, on Tuesday shared a Russian news clip claiming to show debris from the ship lodged into the ground near a business in Feodosiya in a post to X, formerly Twitter. "Russian media report that large fragments of the Novocherkassk landing ship, which was hit by the Armed Forces of Ukraine strikes tonight, can be found in the vicinity of Feodosiya port," Gerashchenko wrote alongside the video.

"Russian navy can organize a quest game to put this puzzle of a ship together," he added.

The Russian reporter in the video says that "numerous fragments" of the ship were found in the city, according to translated subtitles provided by Gerashchenko.

"Numerous fragments of the Novocherkassk landing ship can be seen in the vicinity of Feodosiya port," the reporter says while standing in front of the debris. "It was damaged tonight. These quite large fragments can be found in Feodosiya."

 

"By the way, such a piece of debris stuck almost a meter into the ground," she continues. "Can you imagine how severe the blow was? The windowpanes of five-story houses were blown out."

Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, wrote on Telegram that one person was killed and two others were injured in a Ukrainian "detonation" in Feodosiya.

It is unclear now many crew members may have been on board Novocherkassk at the time of the explosion. The Associated Press reported that the 360-foot ship is capable of carrying 225 sailors and 10 tanks.

 

The ship was previously damaged in March 2022, about one month after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine but has reportedly been used since to transport personnel and equipment including drones.

U.K. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said in a post to X on Tuesday that Ukraine had destroyed 20 percent of Russia's Black Sea fleet over the past four months, adding that Moscow's "dominance in the Black Sea is now challenged."

Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly vowed to retake the territory since the current conflict began on February 24, 2022.