“As a result of the successful air strike carried out by the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on March 11, 2024, the Russian-flagged tanker Mechanik Pogodin, which served as a command post for the Russians, was destroyed in the area of Kinburn Spit,” the Ukrainian Navy said in a statement.
The ship was previously anchored in the Kherson seaport. However, after the Russians blew up the dam at Novaya Kachovka, the tanker was stranded on the Kinburn Spit, at the mouth of the Dnieper and Boho rivers in the Black Sea.
The Russians had to turn the tanker into a command post
The Ukrainian military claims that the Russians turned a civilian ship into a command center and support point for electronic warfare.
“It met the definition of a military facility under international law. It was included in the enemy’s electronic warfare and intelligence gathering system, as well as the surveillance, command and communications system. It was destroyed in full compliance with the rules of international law,” the Ukrainians said, publishing a recording of the attack, for each unit.
A Russian general was said to have been killed in the attack
According to the Ukrainian website Opuz, which quoted Ukrainian intelligence, the commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, General Mikhail Teplinsky, was supposed to be on board the ship. Russian sources said that the commander had not been contacted since the attack.
Experts suggest that the Ukrainians most likely destroyed the ship using AASM (known as Hammer) cruise bombs, which were received as part of an aid package from France.
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