Ukrainian forces damaged two russian landing ships in the Black Sea in a night operation in temporarily occupied Crimea, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine reports.
The ships were Project 11770 (Serna-class) landing craft carrying a crew and armored vehicles, including BTR-82 armored personnel carriers.
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Russia actively used these ships to transport troops and equipment to Snake Island during the occupation. The russians also placed Tor-M2 air defense missile systems on board the ships to protect their forces on the island and in the Black Sea.
The Serna-class landing craft have a high speed and can carry up to 45 tons of cargo and 92 armed troops. The occupiers use these ships to land advance groups of marines or for evacuation.
After a series of attacks by Ukrainian forces, the russians have lost many of their ship-based air defense systems. As a result, they have been using these landing craft, with air defense systems on board, to cover the russian Black Sea Fleet ships on raids.
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