Russian Salvage Ship Damaged in Ukrainian Missile Strike on Sevastopol

A Russian salvage ship, Kommuna, was damaged in a Ukrainian missile strike on the Sevastopol harbor  on Sunday.

The ship suffered a direct hit from a Scalp/Strom Shadow missile launched by a Ukrainian Su-24 fighter jet, Ukrainian media reports said.

The ship and submarine salvage ship, Kommuna is said to be the oldest ship in the Russian Navy having been commissioned in 1915. It survived the two world wars and was most recently used in the salvage of the cruiser, Moskva in 2022 after it was hit by a Ukrainian missile.

However, the governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev claimed an anti-ship missile had been “repelled” and “fragments caused a small fire, which was quickly extinguished,” according to his post in Telegram.

A video posted by local resident shot from the northern part of the Sevastopol harbor this morning showed a Russian naval vessel on fire. Since no other surrounding vessels and port infrastructure appears to be on fire, it could be concluded that the vessel suffered a direct hit.

The extent of the damage could not ascertained, not has it been verified that the attacked ship was the kommuna salvage vessel. 

Russian retaliation

Russia is said to have launched a retaliatory strike on the Dnepropetrovsk Airport on Sunday afternoon where aircraft such as a the  Su-24M/MR, which are carriers of the SCALP-EG missile system, as well as MiG-29A and Su-27, which launch AASM-250 HAMMER guided bombs, besides the AGM-88B Block 3 HARM anti-radar missiles, are located.

Videos posted on social media showed damage to fuel storage facilities as well the runway and hangers.