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OPINION OCTOBER 13, 2023 | The Indian Eye 16

Ukrainian Attack on

Sevastopol: Key Takeaways

R. VIGNESH & ABHAY KUMAR SINGH

n 13 September 2023, the port
city of Sevastopol in Crimea
Owas attacked by Ukrainian
missile strikes. As per reports,
Ukraine carried out this strike using
Storm Shadow cruise missiles that it
acquired from the United Kingdom
(UK) earlier this year. Ukraine sup-
posedly fired ten of these missiles, of
which three managed to penetrate
the Russian Air Defence Grids. Two
Russian warships that were undergo-
ing repairs in the dry dock sustained
severe damage and were rendered
inoperable. This included a large sur-
face and submersible vessel that has
been identified as a Landing Ship
(LST) and a submarine.
The naval base at Sevastopol is
the home to the Russian Navy’s Black
Sea Fleet and has a storied history.
As a warm water port with a natural
harbor and extensive infrastructure,
Sevastopol is among the best naval
bases in the Black Sea region. Trajectory and damage of the Missile Attack on Rostov-on-Don. Source: Steve Brown, “Destruction of Russia’s Kilo Class Submarine Unique in
Sevastopol also played a criti-
cal role in supporting Russia’s four- More Ways Than One”, Kyiv Post, 19 September 2023.
month long occupation of Snake
Island. During the initial weeks of extent of loss that the Russian Navy 1 released by the Kyiv Post. the various independent BDAs of the
the War, many observers speculat- incurred in this attack. Of the three The other significant target of Sevastopol attack, it would be safe to
ed that Sevastopol would be the missiles that had penetrated the Rus- the attack has been identified as assume that both these significant
staging point for potential Russian sian air defence grid, one had struck a Soviet Era Ropucha-class LST assets of the Russian Navy are most
amphibious operations on Odesa. the submarine while the other two named as Minsk. These class of ships likely to be written off from service.
On a regular basis, Russian surface had hit the LST. were designed for beach landings Image 2 shared on Twitter by conflict
ships and submarines employed in The Submarine has been identi- and were capable of transporting correspondent Chuck Pfarrer illus-
combat operations berthed in Sev- fied as an improved Kilo-Class sub- cargo up to 450 tons. The structure trates the extent of possible damage
astopol for re-arming, replenishing marine called the Rostov-on-Don. of these ships has been designed to sustained by Minsk.
and repair. The geographic advan- This class of vessels are conventional have both bow and stern doors, mak- The lateral damage of this at-
tages and the infrastructure facilities submarines (SSK) with a dual hull ing it possible to load and unload ve- tack has been on the dry docks where
available in Sevastopol enabled the design. The inner hull is called the hicles easily. The Minsk was among these two vessels have been under-
Black Sea Fleet to make the optimal pressure hull, designed to withstand the six LSTs that entered the Black going repairs. Since the beginning
utilisation of its Operational Turn- the immense pressure of the deep Sea through the Turkish Straits in of the war, the Sevastopol Shipyard
around (OTR) and firepower against sea and houses the crew and equip- January 2022. In the initial weeks of has been engaged in the repair and
Ukrainian targets. ment. While the outer hull is the the war, it was expected that these re-equipment of the Black Sea fleet’s
Thus far, the attack on 13 Sep- structural hull designed to protect ships would serve as the backbone ships and submarine. Experts have
tember 2023 is the most successful the inner hull from damage. The of the much-anticipated Russian am- opined that there are no compara-
attack considering the damage in- photographs of the damaged subma- phibious operations on the southern ble facilities within the Black Sea
flicted upon Russia’s naval assets in rine released by Conflict Intelligence coast of Ukraine. capable of conducting major repairs
Sevastopol. Since then, there have Team (CIT) indicate that the missile It is possible that Minsk, like Ros- works on Russian warships. For ex-
been several independent BDAs re- had penetrated both the hulls and tov-on-Don, has been damaged be- ample, the nearest Russian port in
leased by various Open-Source In- the warhead has exploded inside the yond repair. This is contrary to Rus- Novorossiysk which is located about
telligence (OSINT) platforms. The pressure hull. The possible trajectory sia’s claims that these vessels would 500 kilometers east of Sevastopol
analysis of these BDAs provides a and the damage inflicted on the sub- be swiftly repaired and put back into does not have facilities for servicing
holistic picture of the nature and marine has been illustrated in Image service at the earliest. Considering Continued on next page... >>

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