Russian warships aren’t safe anywhere near Ukraine. Not even at their piers and in their drydocks. Maybe especially at their piers and in the drydocks.

Russian warships aren’t safe anywhere near Ukraine. Not even at their piers and in their drydocks.

Maybe especially at their piers and in the drydocks.

On Saturday, Ukrainian air force Sukhoi Su-24 bombers launched at least three cruise missiles—British-made Storm Shadows or French-made SCALPs—at the Russian Black Sea Fleet missile corvette Askold, pierside in Kerch on the eastern edge of Russian-occupied Crimea.

Imagery released by the Ukrainian government strongly indicates the missiles badly damaged the 220-foot Askold, one of the newest warships in the increasingly battered Black Sea Fleet.

“Confirmed,” Kyiv’s strategic communications directorate stated. “The Russian missile carrier Askold—the newest ship of the Karakurt project with ‘stealth’ technology—was damaged.”

“How was your weekend?” the Ukrainian air force quipped in a social-media post that includes a photo of a SCALP missile.

  • andrew_bidlawEnglish
    4•10 months ago

    Askold and Dir were the earliest known rulers of Kiyv. The choice of a name for her is puzzling. Did they mean something by that?