Putin in crisis as Ukraine wreaks havoc in Russia with deadly move
The successful attack was celebrated by the Ukrainian General Staff of the Armed Forces as "another great result".
Vladimir Putin has been humiliated once again by Ukraine after a Russian ferry was attacked earlier this week.
The move has likely hugely hindered Moscow's ability to supply its troops in the war-torn country with Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), the UK Defence Minister believes.
In one of its regular intelligence assessments issued on July 25 on the war in Ukraine, Britain's MoD spoke about the attack launched two days prior by the Ukrainian Navy and other units of the country's Armed Forces against the Russian ferry Slavyanin in the eastern Russian port of Kavkaz.
It said: "The strike will almost certainly cause Russia further logistical problems in supplying its occupying forces in southern Ukraine and the regional export of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG).
"The Slavyanin has the largest capacity of the three rail RO-ROs (Roll On-Roll Off ferries) transiting the Kerch Strait between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula."
The assessment noted the Slavyanin was the last railway ferry available in the region following previous Ukrainian attacks to the area.
It read: "Following the successful missile strikes which damaged the other two rail RO-RO vessels on May 29 2024, Slavyanin had been put back into service as the only rail RO-RO ferry."
The Kavkaz port is a massive node for military logistics given its connections to the occupied Crimean peninsula and is Russia’s fifth-largest port by cargo turnover.
The Ministry added: "Rendering RO-RO ferries non-operational, even temporarily, reduces imposes increased costs as well as reducing Russia’s flexibility to transport fuel, munitions and equipment across the Kerch Strait."
The Kerch Strait divides Ukraine's Crimea, illegally occupied by Russia since 2014, from the Taman Peninsula of Russia's Krasnodar Krai.
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The successful Ukrainian attacks targeting the RO-ROs in recent months, the MoD said, may have also forced Russia to "change its security procedures and risk the movement of fuel trainsets across the Kerch bridge" - despite Kyiv proving it is capable of dealing it massive damage, as it struck it with missile attacks first in October 2022 and then in the summer of 2023.
Following the June 23 strike, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine celebrated the attack saying: "Another great result of the defence forces' synchronised efforts: the invaders' ferry is severely damaged in the port of Kavkaz."
It also released a picture showing a huge column of black smoke rising from a burning ferry.
