Agence France Presse reported on 1 February that on the Ukrainian side, on 1 January, it had destroyed a Russian warship in the waters of the Black Sea near the Crimea peninsula.

Crimea, the main base of the Russian Black Sea fleet, is frequently attacked by Ukrainian drones and missiles.

According to reports, the General Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine issued a statement in the social media stating that “an enemy missile speedboat was destroyed at night” and that the Russian side did not comment immediately.

The General Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine stated that the ship was the Ivanovitz and that it was built at a cost of up to $70 million.

It was also reported that, in a video allegedly showing the night raid, a small vessel could be seen approaching a Russian warship, which was followed by a major explosion and appeared to have begun to flip and sink.

Agence France-Presse was unable to independently verify the video or the Ukrainian account of the incident.

It was reported that although there were no immediate statements from the Moscow side, a Russian account linked to the military on the Cable software stated that Ukraine had attacked the Crimea region at night with nine naval drones.

The Russian side has yet to respond to the claim of the destruction of the Russian Black Sea fleet 'Evanovo' missile boat.

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Map of the Ivanovo people's missile boat

The Ukrainian media reported on 1 February local time that the General Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine had released a message on social platforms that, between the night of 31 January and the early hours of 1 February 2024, soldiers of the 13th Special Intelligence Unit of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine had destroyed the missile vessel Ivanovo, the Russian Black Sea fleet, which had been damaged and sank after a series of direct impacts. The General Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine had also released relevant videos.