According to the UNIAN news agency, citing the government social media website Dumska, said a Russian warship operating in the Black Sea was hit and left burning by a Ukrainian cruise missile.
The vessel was reportedly a “Burevestnik” class frigate. Ukrainian media said the Russian warship, located near Zmeyny island at the Danube delta, was hit by a Neptune anti-ship missile.
The Dumska statement likewise said a Ukrainian Neptune missile hit the ship, and that “large numbers” of Russian aircraft were circling overhead.
A maritime ship tracker showed a Russian rescue ship identified as SPK-46150 en route to the location following a late Thursday night dispatch.
An aviation tracker website showed a US Air Force Global Hawk long-range reconnaissance drone over the location at 0500 Friday morning.
There was no immediate Ukraine Armed Forces (UAF) or Russian Federation (RF) confirmation of the strike. The Livemap military information graphic resource said the vessel was an Admiral Grigorievich class frigate.
Ukrainian parliament member Oleksiy Honcharenko in a web statement claimed the warship hit was the Admiral Makarov, a vessel known to have been operating in the west Black Sea for more than a month.
Admiral Makarov is an Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate of the Russian Navy, part of the Black Sea Fleet based at Sevastopol. She was laid down at the Yantar Shipyard in February 2012 and commissioned on 25 December 2017.
In July 2018, the frigate took part in Russia's Main Naval Parade in St. Petersburg.
On 18 August 2018, Admiral Makarov set sail from the Baltic Sea for the Black Sea and sailed through the English Channel on 21 August.
She had been spotted while in transit there by HMS Queen Elizabeth in the English Channel on 18 August during her maiden voyage. Admiral Makarov arrived at its permanent base in Sevastopol in early October.
On 5 November 2018, the press service of the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet announced the frigate had left Sevastopol to join the Russian naval group in the eastern Mediterranean.
In 2022, the Admiral Makarov – along with the Admiral Grigorovich and the Admiral Essen – took part in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet’s largest warship and flagship, the Moskva, was sunk nearby on April 14, after being struck by two Ukrainian anti-ship missiles.
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