He highlighted that Russia stole the warship from Ukraine in 2014 during the illegal annexation of Crimea.
Originally built in 1985, the Konstantin Olshansky was handed over to the Ukrainian Navy in 1996 during the division of the Soviet Union’s naval fleet.
“A true detective story unfolded with the large landing ship Konstantin Olshansky.
Let me remind you, this is a ship that belonged to Ukraine and was captured by the Russian occupiers in 2014,” Pletenchuk said on the Freeform TV channel on Tuesday.
As per his account,
the ship remained anchored in the bay for nine years, during which the invaders began disassembling it for spare parts. However, by the tenth year of the conflict, they recognized a shortage of large landing ships, prompting the vessel’s restoration within a year.
Pletenchuk pointed out that following the vessel’s restoration, Russia had planned to use the ship against Ukraine, which is why the Ukrainian forces decided to destroy the vessel.
“Unfortunately, a decision was made to inflict fire damage on this unit. We have no choice.
We used a Ukrainian Neptune [cruise missile], and the damage was inflicted,” Pletenchuk told national television.
Pletenchuk additionally affirmed that the Russian ships Azov, Yamal, and Ivan Khurs, which were targeted, would be
incapable of undertaking combat missions in the foreseeable future.
This is the third landing ship that Ukraine has targeted in three days in occupied Crimea.
