An amphibious landing ship Russia had used to transport tanks and other armored vehicles for its invasion of Ukraine is now heavily damaged in the southeast port city of Berdyansk.
Ukraine’s Navy shared a post on Facebook, saying the Russian ship Orsk, Project 1171 (NATO designation Alligator) class amphibious transport dock, was destroyed in the Russian-occupied port city.
Ukraine’s military tweeted a video of the Russian landing ship on fire, with the caption “Berdyansk!!! The [Russian] occupiers are burning well.”
The Ukrainian military did not immediately specify how its forces were able to get through Russian lines to attack the landing ship.
Days before the landing ship was destroyed, the Russia’s state-run media outlet Russia Today (RT) shared footage of the landing ship offloading a BTR-80 armored personnel carrier. The Russian media coverage highlighted the fact that Russian forces were using the Ukrainian port to supply its invasion forces.
Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said the Russian landing ship represented a “huge target” that could carry up to 400 troops and 20 tanks or 45 armored vehicles, BBC reported.
Additional footage on Thursday showed the Russian landing ship burning from a distance.
As Russia’s Orsk landing ship burned, one video showed two more Russian warships sailing away from the port.
Ukraine’s Defence Ministry highlighted the strike on the Russian landing ship, which it noted coincided with the one-month mark of the start of the Russian invasion.
“Celebration of one month since the beginning of the russian invasion took place in Hell. 15,800 russian soldiers marched in parade,” Ukraine’s Defence Ministry tweeted. “The highlight of the column of military machinery was russian large landing ship ‘Orsk.'”
As of Thursday, Ukraine’s military has assessed Russia has lost about 15,800 troops, 530 tanks, 1,597 armored personnel carriers, 280 artillery pieces, 82 multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), 47 anti-aircraft systems, 108 planes, 147 helicopters, 50 tactical-level drones, 1,033 other road vehicles, 72 fuel trucks, four ships of various types and 16 other pieces of special equipment.
Exact casualties and equipment losses from the fighting are hard to independently verify at this time. To date, the Russian government has only admitted 498 Russian troops killed and 1,597 wounded. The Russian government gave that casualty assessment on March 2, after a week of fighting and has provided no updates since.
Earlier this week, the pro-Kremlin Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda wrote that the Russian defense ministry assessed 9,861 Russian troops had been killed and another 16,153 had been injured in the fighting so far. The Russian outlet removed that information after it was up for several hours, and later claimed those casualty numbers had been inserted into an article after its website was hacked.
