Ukraine said its forces attacked two Russian patrol ships operating in the Black Sea and destroyed a sophisticated “Triumf” surface-to-air missile defence system in Russian-occupied Crimea. The Russian Defence Ministry confirmed an attack on the Sergei Kotov ship in a morning statement but said the assault involving five sea drones was repelled.

Ukraine said its forces attacked two Russian patrol ships operating in the Black Sea and destroyed a sophisticated “Triumf” surface-to-air missile defence system in Russian-occupied Crimea, with military analysts describing the loss of such equipment as “tactical failures” by Russia.

The attacks reported on Thursday followed a day after Kyiv said it had carried out a missile strike that badly damaged a Russian submarine and a naval landing ship that were undergoing repairs in a shipyard in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

In a post on the Telegram messaging app on Thursday, Ukraine’s military said it hit two Russian patrol vessels in a southwest region of the Black Sea, causing “certain damage” in a morning attack.

“The [Sergei] Kotov was hit,” military intelligence official Andriy Yusov told the Reuters news agency, sharing a grainy video circulated online by a Ukrainian government minister that appeared to show sea drones attacking a vessel at sea.

The Russian Defence Ministry confirmed an attack on the Sergei Kotov ship in a morning statement but said the assault involving five sea drones was repelled. It made no mention of damage.

Ukraine’s military also said it had hit a Russian air defence system in a long-range attack in the early hours of Thursday near the town of Yevpatoriya in the west of Crimea.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made special reference to the Crimea attack in his nightly message to the nation on Thursday.