We can confirm that this target has been destroyed, Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk told Radio Svoboda, referring to Thursday's attack on the Russian port of Kavkaz in Krasnodar Territory. Earlier, Ukrainian and Russian media reported on it. As a result of the attack, a railway ferry carrying fuel sank.
“We can confirm that this target was destroyed by the navy,” Pletenchuk said in an interview with the Ukrainian section of Radio Svoboda on Friday. He said he would not “give details.” He said he would only repeat what he had said earlier on Ukrainian television.
– This ferry is one of the most important chains of Russian military logistics, supplying the occupying forces. Primarily with fuel and lubricants, but in addition it also carried weapons – said the Navy spokesman.
Pletenchuk said the ferry was a “fully justified” target and its destruction “should reduce the enemy's potential in places where active military operations are being conducted.”
Port Kavkaz after the attack. Footage from the recording Reuters
Reports of the Neptune missile
The Ukrainian navy spokesman did not specify what the Kavkaz port was attacked with. Russian Telegram channels speculated Thursday that the Ukrainians used a Neptun missile. There were 30 fuel tanks on the train ferry at the time of the attack. Shortly after the attack, the Krasnodar Territory Operations Headquarters reported that the ferry had sunk.
The Ukrainian military portal Defense Express wrote that Pletenchuk, saying that the Russian ferry was destroyed by the Navy, actually confirmed the reports of the use of the Neptun missile. “It is also worth noting that Ukraine currently has other means that could reach the Russian ferry, namely the ATACMS ballistic missile or the Storm Shadow cruise missile,” Defense Express noted.
Neptun system. Missiles with which Ukrainians hit Russian ship MoskvaTVN24
The port has been “blocked”
Pletenchuk told Radio Svoboda on Friday that the Russian port in Krasnodar Krai “has been blocked.” Russian Telegram channels reported that after the sinking of the vessel in Crimea, there were problems with fuel at gas stations. The pro-Ukrainian channel Krymsky Wiatr reported that the port had been closed indefinitely, and that services were having to remove the sunken ferry and clean up the infrastructure destroyed by the fire and explosions.
The governor of Krasnodar Krai said on Thursday after the attack that there were 19 people on board the ferry. 17 were rescued, and the search for the missing two was ongoing.
The Caucasus Port is located near the Crimean Bridge, which connects the Krasnodar Territory with the annexed Russia Crimean Peninsula. According to Ukrainian analysts, the attacked ferry was the only large vessel operating between the city of Kerch in annexed Crimea and Russia.
Radio Swoboda, Defense Express, tvn24.pl