The Russian-occupied Azov Sea port city of Berdyansk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast was struck by a Ukrainian missile on Friday, an occupation official said. Located about 60 miles from the front lines, Berdyansk is the latest example of long-distance targets Ukraine can now hit thanks to donated weapons. This is at least the fourth attack on the port city in the past few weeks. In the wake of this latest attack, a Russian-installed occupation official said the strike was likely carried out by U.K.-provided Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles.
"Apparently, these were Storm Shadow missiles but we are waiting for more detailed information from our Defense Ministry,” occupation official Vladimir Rogov said in a live broadcast on Komsomolskaya Pravda radio, according to the official Russian TASS news agency.
“The militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine struck at peaceful Berdyansk at about 12.00,” Rogov said Friday on his Telegram channel. “The hit was on the territory of the seaport. According to preliminary information, there were no casualties or damage. According to preliminary data, there were three explosions in total. Ukrainian Nazis tried to launch a rocket attack on the city.”
Rogov later updated his Telegram channel to say that there were at least nine people wounded and taken to the hospital as a result of the strike.
“Information about the dead is being specified,” he said.
Contrary to what Rogov said, a strike like this likely to cause damage. While the extent is unknown at this time, the Ukrainian Berdyansk City Military Administration Telegram channel claims that several Russian ships docked at the port made a hasty departure as a result of the attack.
“According to preliminary data, ships that recently entered to steal Ukrainian grain and scrap metal are fleeing from the Berdyansk port,” that channel claimed.
Throughout the war, Ukraine has shown the ability to strike deep into Russia and Russian-held territory with aerial drones and uncrewed surface vessel drones as well as sabotage raids. There have also been several cross-border incursions of late by self-proclaimed anti-Putin partisans, which you can read more about later in this story.
By comparison, the vaunted Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS) munitions provided by the U.S. and allies fired by M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, and M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) launchers have a range of about 50 miles.
In addition to Storm Shadows, Ukraine has its own domestically produced guided artillery rocket that has the range to strike Berdyansk.
Called the Vilkha-M, it is a modified 7.6m (25-foot) long Soviet BM-30 Smerch multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) artillery rocket with a range of nearly 70 miles. You can read more about it in our deep dive here.
For the Russians, capturing Berdyansk in the early days of this all-out conflict was a huge win. In addition to seizing about a dozen ships from Ukraine’s Navy at the time, it is also an important logistics and supply hub, providing materiel for Russian troops in the region.
This is far from the first time Berdyansk has been attacked since Russia captured it. Back in March, 2022, the Project 1171 Alligator class landing ship Orsk was destroyed in an attack initially reported to be by a Ukrainian Tochka-U short-range ballistic missile. However, it is unclear what destroyed the ship. You can read more about it in our story from the time here.
Berdyansk was also hit several times last month.
It is believed at least one of those attacks was carried out by a Storm Shadow.
It is unknown how many Storm Shadows the U.K. provided Ukraine, which has produced only about 100 Vilkha-M rockets.
But this is likely not the last time Berdyansk and other key logistic and supply nodes far from the front lines will be attacked by weapons now in the hands of Ukraine as it continues to shape the battlefield ahead of its looming counteroffensive.
