Russian destroyer catches fire in Barents Sea due to malfunction (Kyiv)

The great Russian anti-submarine ship Admiral Levchenko is on fire in the Barents Sea, according to the Ukrainian Navy spokesperson.

Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesman for the Southern Defense Forces and the Ukrainian Navy, said in a Facebook post that one of the ship's engines malfunctioned and caught fire with several hundred crew members on board. .

The ship was commissioned by Russia in 1988, Ukrainian media reported. Russia lost a number of its major ships throughout the war in Ukraine.

“Enemy equipment is on fire. Specifically, the large anti-submarine ship Admiral Levchenko in the Barents Sea. His struggle for survival continues, hopefully in vain,” he wrote.

“This is what happens when a “superpower” is sanctioned by Ukraine and cannot independently service engines produced in Russia. [Ukraine’s] Mykolaiv. One of the facilities caught fire,” Pletenchuk said.

“Your training is going great guys, don’t stop,” he added. “Just so you understand, there are several hundred crews there.”

News week was unable to independently verify Pletenchuk's claims and contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

kyiv has targeted Russia's Black Sea fleet throughout President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of the country, which began in February 2022. Ukraine has pledged to reverse the annexation of Crimea by the Russian leader in 2014, which now serves as Moscow's central logistics hub for its forces in southern Ukraine.

As a result, Russia was forced to move many of its warships from Crimea to its base in Novorossiysk, in Russia's Krasnodar region.

In April, British Defense Minister Grant Shapps said in an article on X that Russia's Black Sea Fleet had been rendered “functionally inactive.” The Ukrainian military said that as of December 2023, about a third of the fleet had been destroyed.

In one of the most recent attacks in kyiv, the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine (HUR) said its forces managed to attack and destroy a Russian tugboat “Saturn” near Crimea using naval drones Suicide bomber.

“Maritime strike. All strikes were targeted. Minus one more enemy ship,” HUR spokesman Andriy Yusov said during a national broadcast on June 6.

“On June 6, a special unit of the 9th Defense Intelligence Department of Ukraine, off the coast of temporarily occupied Crimea, managed to hit a Russian raid tug of Project 498 Saturn or Protey,” the HUR statement said .

“Another ship belonging to the Russian invaders was destroyed,” the statement added. “The destructive fire damage was inflicted after a successful breakthrough of the Russian line of defensive barriers in the Black Sea.”

Pletenchuk said on national television on Sunday that Russia began patrolling the Black Sea with submarines after Ukraine damaged several dozen Russian ships.

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