Moment ‘Putin’s newest warship is destroyed by Ukrainian missile strike at Crimean shipyard’

• The Askold – a ‘Black Widow’ class corvette – had not even entered active service
• It was still under construction when Putin visited the Crimean shipyard in 2020 

Dramatic new footage suggests Vladimir Putin has lost another warship – this time one of his most modern – in yet another missile strike by Ukrainian forces this past weekend. 

Huge explosions struck the Askold – a Karakurt or ‘Black Widow’ class corvette – in the Zaliv shipyard in annexed Crimea on Saturday night. 

Security footage from the scene appears to show three separate missile strikes on the shipyard, while a still image highlights major damage sustained by the newly-built naval vessel.

The strikes are believed to have been by SCALP-EGs – the French version of the Anglo-French Storm Shadow which has been deployed repeatedly by Ukrainian forces in recent months to destroy key Russian targets.

The Askold and other corvette class ships are designed to carry Kalibr cruise missiles, the same kind of missiles that Moscow has used repeatedly against Ukrainian targets since launching the all-out war on the neighbouring country in February 2022.

The loss of the Askold will prove particularly irksome for Russia’s Navy as the Black Widow corvette is brand new and had not even entered active service. It was still under construction when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Kerch and the shipyard in July 2020.

The ship will be unable to go ‘on combat duty in the near future,’ said Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson of Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command.

‘The blow was powerful.’

Huge explosions struck the Askold, a Karakurt or ‘Black Widow’-class corvette, in the Zaliv shipyard in annexed Crimea on Saturday night

Security footage from the scene appears to show three separate missile strikes on the shipyard

Russia’s defence ministry acknowledged that ‘at least two’ missiles hit the shipyard at the weekend

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows a shipyard in Kerch in the Crimean Peninsula after a Ukrainian missile attack targeted the shipyard and a Russian naval vessel

Russia’s Defence Ministry this week acknowledged the Ukrainian strike claiming Ukraine fired some 15 missiles, ‘at least two’ of which struck a ship and the shipyard in Kerch.

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Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of Ukraine’s air force, later confirmed that Kyiv used the long-range French SCALP cruise missiles in the attack.

‘I hope another ship has followed the Moskva,’ Oleshchuk quipped, referring to the Russian Black Sea Fleet flagship sunk by Ukrainian missiles on April 14, 2022.

‘(Askold) has not even taken part in sailing or combat yet – it was undergoing some final testing work, so that it could then go to sea and fight against our state,’ said Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ignat.

The Askold is a Project 22800 Karakurt warship, one of three being built at the Russian-occupied shipyard in Kerch.

The other two are the Amur and Cyclone, and like the Askold were due in service this year.   

Amur and Cyclone are not thought to have been damaged in the Ukrainian strike. 

The loss of the Askold follows a devastating missile strike which destroyed the Sevastopol headquarters of Putin’s Black Sea Fleet on September 22.

Nine days prior to that attack, Ukrainian missiles also hit the £250 million Kilo-class attack submarine Rostov-on-Don and large landing ship Minsk in a repair shipyard in Sevastopol.

The Askold was still under construction when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Kerch and the shipyard in July 2020

The loss of the Askold will prove particularly irksome for Russia ‘s Navy as the Black Widow corvette is brand new and had not even entered active service

Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of Ukraine’s air force, later confirmed that Kyiv used the long-range French SCALP cruise missiles in the attack

The Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine, has been a frequent target since Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

Crimea has served as a key hub for Russian troops and equipment and is also the headquarters of the aforementioned Black Sea Fleet. 

The Kremlin-installed head of the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region said Monday that Russia has started building a railway that will run from Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia to Crimea in an attempt to improve connectivity. 

Russia built a bridge connecting its mainland to the peninsula after annexing Crimea in 2014. 

Explosions have hit the bridge at least twice during the war, including in July, when two people were killed.

Evgeny Balitsky, the Russia-installed Zaporizhzhia governor, said the new train line is designed to go by way of Mariupol and Berdyansk, which are Russian-occupied cities on the Sea of Azov, and to ensure trains are protected from Ukrainian shelling.

Russian state news agency Ria Novosti, quoted Balitsky as saying the railway would ‘solve the military’s problem,’ as well as give Russia a route to take grain out of Ukraine.

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