The Russian military has sunk the Ukrainian corvette Ternopil, which was seized in 2014 during the occupation of Crimea.

A video of the ship being hit was published by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

During training firing in the northwestern part of the Black Sea, the Russian Tarantul-class corvette Ivanovets of the Black Sea Fleet hit the target ship with an anti-ship cruise missile.

The characteristic profile allows to make an assumption that the target for the invaders was the Project 1124M corvette Ternopil captured during the occupation of Crimea.

The missile hit the middle of the ship above the waterline and detonated. The invaders did not show final results from the direct hit of the missile, but the ship allegedly sank.

P-270 Moskit is a Soviet supersonic anti-ship cruise missile with a penetrating warhead weighing 300 kilograms with 150 kg of explosive.

Corvette Ternopil

At the time of capture in 2014, Ternopil (U209) was the newest corvette of the Ukrainian Navy – she was launched on March 15, 2002.

The 930-ton ship was armed with one АК-176 76mm naval gun, two twin 533 mm torpedo tubes, and RBU-6000 Smerch-2 anti-submarine rocket launcher.

Anti-aircraft capability of the ship was the АК-630М 30mm rotary cannon and the Osa-MA anti-aircraft missile system. In addition, the crew was armed with several Strela-3 MANPADS.

On March 3, 2014, the servicemen of the Black Sea Fleet of Russia tried to force the surrender of the crew of the Ukrainian corvette Ternopil in Crimea.

After refusing to surrender, the ship’s crew was completely cut off from land, which made it impossible for the sailors even to get food on board.

On March 5, the captain of the warship Maksym Yemelianenko said that he had noticed signs of preparation for the capture of the corvette, but the personnel were ready to repel the attack. However, immediately after seizing the vessel, he defected to the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation, committing high treason.

Yemelianenko is the only one of the crew of the ship who betrayed the oath. Today, according to the SBI, he is fighting against Ukraine as part of the Russian Armed Forces on the frigate Ladny as a second officer.

As previously reported, Russia began an illegal disposal of captured ships of the Ukrainian Navy in Sevastopol and Donuzlav, which after 2014 were in the territory of the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea.