Southern Defense Forces spokesperson denies that Ukraine hit Russian ship in Azov Sea

Journalists of Sky News, referring to unnamed sources in Ukrainian military circles, claimed that the Defense Forces allegedly struck a Russian Ropukha-type amphibious assault ship in the waters of the Sea of Azov on June 8. The spokesman of the Southern Defense Forces, Dmytro Pletenchuk, could not confirm this information.

The outlet said that the Ukrainian military launched a "coordinated attack" on a Russian amphibious ship on Saturday evening. According to an anonymous representative of the Defense Forces, the vessel recently moved to the Sea of Azov from the Black Sea.

Asked to comment on this information, Pletenchuk said: "Unfortunately, as of now, this is news from the future."

He outlined that three large amphibious and three small missile ships of the enemy, in particular, of the Buyan-M project, are currently in the waters of the Sea of Azov.

"But the information about the damage is still not true," the speaker stated.

On May 23, 2024, Pletenchuk reported that the Ukrainian military had deprived Russia of the Kalibr cruise missile carriers in Crimea, but the enemy still has similar ships in the ports of Novorossiysk.

On May 30, Ukrainian military intelligence destroyed two Russian KS-701 Tunets boats using Magura V5 surface drones. Defense Intelligence stated that two boats could not be restored after being hit, and later clarified that four Russian Tunets boats were hit and two of them were destroyed.