Kiev [Ukraine], October 13: The Ukrainian navy said on Thursday that it had damaged a Russian warship near the Black Sea port of Sevastopol on the occupied Crimean peninsula.
The damage to the corvette Pavel Dzerzhavin was confirmed by a navy spokesman, Captain DmytroPletchenchuk, in an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. He did not give details about the extent of the damage.
The previous evening, several Telegram channels - including the military administration of the port city of Odessa - claimed that the warship had collided with a Russian sea mine in the waters off Sevastopol. This information could not be independently verified.
The Pavel Dzerzhavin is one of four corvettes used as heavy patrol boats by the Russian Black Sea Fleet. These warships can also be used to launch cruise missiles, with which Russia has been regularly bombarding Ukraine since the war began almost 20 months ago.
In September, another one of these ships, the Sergei Kotov, was attacked by Ukraine and severely damaged, according to Kiev.
Moscow has not commented on the alleged damage to the Pavel Dzerzhavin.
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic will deliver tanks and other weapons to Ukraine in the coming months, paid for by Denmark, under a plan announced by the Defence Ministries in Prague and Copenhagen on Thursday.
Initially, 50 infantry fighting vehicles, 2500 pistols, 7000 rifles, 500 light machine guns and 500 sniper rifles will be provided. This is a "substantial donation" which Ukraine has great interest in, Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said.
The value of the arms deliveries was not detailed in the press releases. The information from Prague was that some of the armaments were new, while some had been modernised by Czech industry.
Deliveries of other items, including anti-tank weapons, are already planned. The cooperation is to continue into next year and possibly beyond.
Meanwhile, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky summoned the Russian ambassador, according to the CTK agency, to voice protest at the Russian attack on the eastern Ukrainian village of Hrosa in the Kharkiv region a week ago, in which dozens of people were killed.
Source: Qatar Tribune
