Tug ‘sunk’ by Ukraine
4th vital vessel hit
A Russian military vessel carrying a surface-to-air missile launcher to Snake Island in the Black Sea sank after it was hit by two Ukranian missiles, the Kyiv government said.
The boat was a relatively small military tug, but it was a valued target because of its mission resupplying the strategic island about 70 miles south of Odessa, intelligence analysts told Stars and Stripes.
While unconfirmed, the claimed sinking brings the total number of Russian vessels sank or damaged by Ukraine in the war to 14, including the Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva.
The strikes are aimed at breaking Russia’s blockade of the strategically crucial Black Sea, home to Ukraine’s shipping ports.
It is unclear when exactly the boat went down, but it came as fighting in the area intensified in recent days.
The Ukranian governor of the Luhansk said Russia is sending a large number of reserves to Severodonetsk in an attempt to gain control of the city, a strategically important industrial hub about 450 miles southeast of the capital, Kyiv.
The UK’s Ministry of Defense
tweeted that Russia has renewed its efforts in the last two days to advance south of the city of Izyum, about 80 miles to the northwest, with a goal of surrounding the besieged Severodonetsk.
The UK also accused Russia of using corridors intended to allow civilians to evacuate “as a mechanism to manipulate the battlespace and impose the forced transfer of populations.”
Russia has repeatedly been accused of forcing Ukrainian civilians to evacuate to territory it controls rather than heading west. In other developments:
President Volodymyr Zelensky got a first-hand look at the destruction in the frontline southern port cities in a rare trip for the Ukrainian leader outside the capital of Kyiv.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned of a risk of “Ukraine fatigue” setting in around the world as the war reached its 114th day.
The Biden administration’s plan to sell four large, armable drones to Ukraine was paused because of fears the sophisticated equipment might fall into enemy hands.
Denmark’s military said a Russian warship entered its territorial waters in the Baltic Sea for the second time early Friday.