PUTIN’s newest and only remaining missile cruiser in the Black Sea it was destroyed by Ukrainian forces in a huge blow to their naval forces.
The “Zyklon” was destroyed alongside the 266-M minesweeper, Kovrovets, in a devastating attack over the weekend.
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The Zyklon is the 26th to be sunk by Ukraine and was blown up by US-supplied ATACMS missiles, killing six people and wounding 11, sources said.
This comes after Russia withdrew its naval headquarters from the occupied Crimean peninsula to Krasnodor.
The Zyklon, which entered service in July last year, was a Karakut-class missile ship armed with multiple weapons, including Kalibr warheads.
Its sinking is part of Ukraine’s ongoing campaign against the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
In April, the Ukrainian Navy said it had struck the rescue ship Kommuna – the oldest ship still in service with the Russian Navy.
Kremlin military chiefs have withdrawn almost all of their major ships from ports in occupied Crimea, according to Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk.
He said his “most valuable possessions” were transferred from his base in Sevastopol to Novorossiysk.
Ukraine’s top brass said 33% of the Black Sea Fleet’s 184 warships had been decommissioned.
In a further blow, Russia’s halting assault on Kharkiv appeared to be falling apart after advancing soldiers were pulled back to the border towns of Vovchansk and Lyptsi.
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