In his evening address on Monday, President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated the country’s armed forces for destroying the Askold, one of Russia’s Kalibr cruise missile carriers, over the weekend.
“I thank everyone who ensured the successful destruction of the Russian ship at the Kerch shipyard,” Zelensky said in his evening address, two days after a Ukrainian commander announced news of the airstrikes on the Zalyv shipyard in Crimea.
The destroyed ship, the Askold, was a relatively new Karakurt-class corvette, a class of warships introduced in 2018, designed for carrying Kalibr or Onyx anti-ship cruise missiles.
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russia has launched three such Project 228000 Karakurt-class corvettes from the Zalyv shipyard as of 2023.
“The Zalyv shipyard is the largest shipyard in Eastern Europe and is likely the main repair facility for the BSF [Black Sea Fleet] in Crimea following a successful Ukraine strike on the Russian state-owned ship repair facility Sevmorzavod in Sevastopol on September 13, 2023,” the ISW wrote.
On Nov. 4, Ukrainian forces conducted missile strikes on the shipyard in the occupied Crimean port of Kerch.
At the time, Ukrainian Air Force commander Mykola Oleschuk wrote on Telegram that the shipyard was “where one of the most modern ships of the Russian Navy was stationed” – a ship capable of carrying powerful supersonic Kalibr missiles. »
