Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs Ukraine destroyed a Russian submarine in Crimea on Friday, Kyiv’s military has said, appearing to mark the latest blow to the Black Sea Fleet based around the peninsula to the south of mainland Ukraine.Ukraine “successfully struck” Russia’s Rostov-on-Don submarine in the southern Crimean port city of Sevastopol, Kyiv’s military said on Saturday.Kyiv also targeted four launchers belonging to Moscow’s advanced S-400 air-defense systems on the Crimean peninsula, Ukraine’s general staff said. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a separate statement that the launchers were “significantly damaged” on Friday.Ukraine previously zeroed in on the Rostov-on-Don, a Kilo-class submarine launched back in 2014, in September 2023. A missile attack on a shipyard in Sevastopol struck the vessel and a Russian landing ship while they were being repaired in dry docks.
The “Rostov-on-Don” in St. Petersburg, on June 26, 2014. Ukraine “successfully struck” the submarine in the southern Crimean port city of Sevastopol, Kyiv’s military said on Saturday.
The “Rostov-on-Don” in St. Petersburg, on June 26, 2014. Ukraine “successfully struck” the submarine in the southern Crimean port city of Sevastopol, Kyiv’s military said on Saturday.
Olga MALTSEVA/AFP via Getty Images
“The Rostov has likely suffered catastrophic damage,” the British government said at the time, saying repairs to the submarine could take years.There was “significant damage” to the submarine before it was repaired and tested in Sevastopol, Kyiv said on Saturday.”As a result of the hit, the boat sank on the spot,” Ukraine’s armed forces said. It had an estimated cost of around $300 million, according to Kyiv’s military.Russia’s government has not commented. Newsweek has approached Moscow’s Defense Ministry for comment via email.Since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv has used missiles and drones to target the Black Sea Fleet, partially based in Sevastopol. Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014, and Ukraine has vowed to reclaim it.The loss of the Rostov-on-Don “once again proves that there is no safe place for the Russian fleet in Ukrainian territorial waters of the Black Sea,” Kyiv’s military said.Despite having no large warships, Kyiv has succeeded in forcing the Black Sea Fleet to largely shift away from Sevastopol, further east in the Black Sea. Moscow has moved many of its vessels toward its Novorossiysk base, and is thought to be establishing another Black Sea base in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia.Vice Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa, the head of Ukraine’s navy, told Reuters last month that Moscow was “losing” Sevastopol, adding, “Almost all the main combat-ready ships have been moved by the enemy from the main base of the Black Sea Fleet.”The British Defense Ministry said in late July that 26 Russian vessels were damaged or destroyed in the Black Sea between February 2022 and June 2024. Ukraine’s navy has estimated that more than a third of the fleet has been taken out.The Rostov-on-Don is the only known Russian submarine to have been damaged in the Black Sea since the Kremlin launched its invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has one of the largest and most advanced submarine fleets in the world, and those vessels are considered far more formidable than its surface fleets.
