Russian submarine sunk in Crimean port, four S-400 missile systems destroyed worth $2 billion

The Rostov-on-Don, pictured here in 2022, was previously seriously damaged in an attack last September

On August 2, 2024, Ukraine’s military reported a successful missile strike on the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s Rostov-on-Don Kilo-class submarine and four S-400 air defense missile launchers in occupied Crimea.

The alleged loss of the Rostov-on-Don “proves once again that there is no safe place for the Russian fleet in Ukrainian territorial waters of the Black Sea,” the General Staff said.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry hailed the attack, saying in a post on social media that “a Russian submarine went to the bottom of the Black Sea” after it was attacked in Sevastopol’s port. “As a result of the attack, the submarine sank. Great work, warriors.”

Russia has occupied Crimea since its forces annexed the peninsula in 2014. Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine more than two years ago, it has come under sporadic attack from Kyiv’s forces.

The attack also targeted the Morozovsk airfield in the Rostov region, where ammunition depots and oil facilities were hit. Additionally, Ukrainian forces conducted drone strikes against military targets in Rostov, Kursk, and Belgorod oblasts.

The Russian Ministry of Defense did not immediately comment on the reported losses. This event marks a significant development in the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine conducted a significant operation in the temporarily occupied Crimea early morning on Saturday, August 3, successfully targeting a Russian kilo-class submarine capable of deploying Kalibr cruise missiles and four S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Defense Forces struck the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s Rostov-on-Don submarine in the port of Sevastopol, sinking it. This marks the second attack on the submarine during the full-scale war.

The General Staff confirmed the Saturday attack in a Facebook post.

“The Russian Black Sea Fleet submarine Rostov-on-Don was successfully struck in the port of Sevastopol. Following the strike, the submarine sank on the spot,” the post reads.

In addition to sinking the submarine, the Ukrainian forces, in collaboration with naval forces units, damaged four launchers of the Triumph air defense system.

The Rostov-on-Don B-237 submarine, classified by NATO as a Kilo-class submarine, was commissioned on December 26, 2014, and is one of four Kilo-class submarines capable of deploying Kalibr missiles.

On September 13, 2023, a Ukrainian missile attack for the first time damaged the Russian submarine Rostov-on-Don, along with sinking Minsk – another major naval vessel.

Following the attack, the submarine underwent repairs and was tested in the waters of Sevastopol harbor. Its cost is estimated at $300 million.

Kyiv’s forces have enjoyed sustained successes targeting Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, with either missile strikes or sea drone attacks.

More than 20 Russian naval vessels have now been disabled or destroyed, a third of the entire fleet. Though Ukraine has virtually no navy of its own, technological innovation, audacity and Russian incompetence have given it the upper hand in much of the Black Sea.

Russia’s worst naval loss of the war was the sinking of the guided-missile cruiser Moskva in April 2022.

In October last year, satellite imagery indicated that Russia relocated some of its naval ships away from Sevastopol after a series of Ukrainian attacks.

In addition to striking the submarine, Ukrainian forces also severely damaged four S-400 anti-aircraft missile launchers on Friday worth $2 billion, the Ukrainian General Staff said.

Leighton said the destruction of the anti-aircraft batteries could help open up the skies over Crimea for Ukrainian warplanes to take on more Russian targets on the occupied peninsula.

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