Ukraine overnight minus two more occupier ships

On the night of Sunday, 24 March, the Russians claimed about the alleged work of air defence systems in temporarily occupied Crimea, and explained the fire in the area of Sevastopol by "burning grass".

However, as it became known, the deployment of Russian troops was hit by the AFU. The Ukrainian defence forces hit the large landing ships Yamal and Azov, a communications centre and several infrastructure facilities of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. The explosions were reported by the pro-Ukrainian telegram channel Crimean Wind.

At the same time, the commander of the Air Force of the AFU Mykola Oleshchuk responded to the explosions in Crimea and noted the work of pilots.

The sky and the sea are of the same colour! Thank you pilots and sailors for successful combat work! Crimea is ours!", - wrote Oleshchuk.

At the same time, OSINTtechnical experts found that at least three Ukrainian Storm Shadow cruise missiles flew into the main communications hub of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

"Yamal" is a large amphibious assault ship of Project 775. It is known from open sources that the ship was built in 1987, its home base is the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

The number of the ship's crew is 87 people. Two artillery systems, two multiple rocket launchers, four anti-aircraft guns can be installed on board. In total, up to 500 tonnes of equipment and cargo and 225 paratroopers can be on board.

The Project 775 Azov large landing ship is part of the 197th Russian Landing Ship Brigade. It was launched in 1989.

In the spring of 2022 the ship was under repair at the 13th shipyard in Sevastopol. In general, the characteristics of Azov are similar to those of Yamal. It can ferry equipment, marines and is equipped with a smoke curtain.

This is what the affected ships looked like before the strike:

1 photo - BDC Yamal;
2 photo - BDC Azov.

This is, first of all, a painful blow to the occupiers' logistics. After a series of Kerch bridge defeats, they tried to emphasise maritime transport to supply their own contingent in Crimea and Azov region. For the sake of this, they turned their large landing ships into ferries.