Ukrainian military sources said a Russian warship was sunk during a Ukrainian counteroffensive on the evening of March 7, local time.
A video shared by the Ukrainian navy on the 7th showed that the Ukrainian army launched a rocket attack in the early morning of the same day, firing rockets from the coastal city of Odessa, and then a distant target ignited flames. Ukrainian soldiers also called it "festive fireworks". "The Marines of the Ukrainian Armed Forces defending the Odessa region hit an enemy ship, and the enemy retreated," the subtitles in the video read.
In the video, Ukrainian soldiers can also be heard talking in Ukrainian after the launch, with one asking: "Did we hit?" Another replies "I haven't seen it yet" before the first says: " Look, we hit the warship, it's on fire!" Some people also celebrated hitting the target with swear words, and one of them repeated the swear words that Ukrainian soldiers had said on Snake Island earlier, which was "Russian warships, Fuck you!"
The Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff also shared the video on social media Facebook, writing: "Today, March 7, 2022, Ukrainian Armed Forces Marines protecting the Odessa region hit an enemy ship."
The British newspaper The Independent said it was unclear what type of warship was hit. But Taras Chmut, head of the Ukrainian Army Center think tank, claimed in a post that the ship was the Russian Navy's Type 22160 patrol ship Vasily Bykov, one of two Russian warships that went to Snake Island last month. one.
Earlier on February 24, a Russian navy warship went to Snake Island to demand the surrender of Ukrainian border guards stationed on the island but was refused. At first, the Ukrainian authorities believed that all 13 soldiers on Snake Island were killed in the Russian attack. Ukrainian President Zelensky also delivered a speech on the evening of February 24, saying that the Ukrainian border guards defending Snake Island had been killed collectively. , "They will all be posthumously awarded the title of Heroes of Ukraine".
But Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on February 25 that "82 Ukrainian soldiers on Snake Island laid down their weapons and voluntarily surrendered to the Russian army." The Ukrainian Navy later said that all these Ukrainian soldiers were captured alive by the Russian army, including the Ukrainian soldier who shouted "Fuck you" at the Russian warship.
