Ukrainian drones struck a Russian naval ship at a crucial Russian port on the Black Sea Friday.
The attack damaged the Russian warship, and it “dealt another blow to the Kremlin’s military and economic infrastructure far from the front lines of the war,” The New York Times reported.
Videos and photos provided proof that “one of the most prominent naval vessels” was hit and damaged “since Ukrainian forces sunk the Moskva, the flagship of Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet, in the early months of the war,” per the Times.
“A big navy ship, [the] Olenogorsky Gornyak, was hit,” a Ukrainian source told CNN. “As the result of the attack, the Russian ship has received serious damage and is not able to fulfill its duties.”
What does Russia say about Ukraine’s drone attack on warship?
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that the drones attacking the ship were diverted and destroyed. Multiple news agencies, including the Times, CNN and The Associated Press, confirmed that the ship had been damaged in the attack.
The attack was executed by both the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Navy, the source told CNN.
“I will only say that we are all grateful to the Security Service of Ukraine for pushing back the war to the aggressor state. What you bring to the world, you end up with the same,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, per AP News.
The offshore attack also demonstrated “Kyiv’s growing naval capabilities as the Black Sea becomes an increasingly important battleground in the war,” according to The Associated Press.
Conflict in the region appears to have escalated since Russia backed out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allowed for safe exports of Ukrainian grain from the port. Ukrainian grains provide food supplies to multiple countries around the world. Russia has also since attacked the ports and damaged some of the infrastructure and supplies meant to be exported, CBS News reported.