Ukraine's Defence Intelligence on destroying Russian warship: There were casualties

Andrii Yusov, spokesman for Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), has said that several people were killed and injured as a result of the unmanned surface vehicle attack on the Russian patrol ship Sergei Kotov.

Source: Andrii Yusov on Radio Svoboda (Radio Liberty)

Quote from Yusov: "There are casualties and fatalities. Still, it’s possible that some crew members were able to evacuate. We know that 10 ambulances were sent to the nearest patch of land. So there was an evacuation operation underway."

Details: Yusov said that Sergei Kotov was notable for having participated, alongside the Moskva cruiser, in the attack on the Zmiinyi (Snake) Island in February 2022.

"Now it joins the very same Moskva cruiser [which sank after a Ukrainian missile strike in April 2022 - ed.]," Yusov said.

He also reported that Russian forces were planning to deploy anti-aircraft missile systems on Sergei Kotov.

Quote from Yusov: "There were plans to deploy anti-aircraft missile systems on the ship. They made several attempts to that end. The fewer ships like that there are, the fewer anti-aircraft missile systems will be deployed on them, which means more opportunities for Ukrainian security and defence forces."

Background:

• Earlier on 5 March, it was reported that explosions were heard in Kerch on the night of 4-5 March, and the Crimean Bridge was closed to traffic for over eight hours. A Russian railway company operating passenger trains to temporarily occupied Crimea said trains were stopped near the Crimean Bridge. Russian media reported that drones had sunk the patrol ship Sergei Kotov.

• Later, Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) confirmed that Sergei Kotov, a Russian Project 22160 patrol ship, was struck by Ukrainian naval drones on the night of 4-5 March.

• DIU said that Sergei Kotov was sunk as a result of an attack by Ukrainian Magura V5 drones.

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