THE RUSSIAN MILITARY has said a Ukrainian missile strike on a shipyard in annexed Crimea has damaged a Russian ship.

The Russian Defence Ministry said last night that Ukrainian forces fired 15 cruise missiles at the Zaliv shipyard in Kerch, a city in the east of the Crimean Peninsula.

Air defences shot down 13 missiles but others hit the shipyard and damaged a vessel, a statement from the ministry said.

The ministry did not give details about the ship or the extent of the damage.

Ukrainian air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a statement that, at the time of the attack carried out by Ukrainian tactical aviation, “one of the most modern ships of Russia’s Black Sea fleet was at the shipyard – carrier of the Kalibr cruise missiles”.

However, he did not say directly that that particular ship was damaged by the strike.

The Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, has been a frequent target since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine 20 months ago. Crimea has served as the key hub supporting the invasion.

Ukraine has increasingly targeted naval facilities in Crimea in recent months.

In September, a Ukrainian missile strike on a strategic shipyard in the port city of Sevastopol damaged two Russian ships and injured 24 people.

Later that same month, a missile strike blasted the Crimean headquarters of Russia’s navy in Sevastopol.

Commenting on yesterday’s strike, head of Ukraine’s presidential office Andriy Yermak said in a Telegram post this morning that “life constantly proves that there won’t be (Russia’s) Black Sea fleet in Crimea”.