Ukraine is claiming to have destroyed a Russian ship in an air attack on Feodosia in Crimea - while the Russian-installed governor of the region says the assault sparked a fire in the town's port area.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The commander of Ukraine's air force, Mykola Oleshchuk, said on the Telegram messaging app, without providing evidence, that the attack destroyed a major Russian Navy vessel, the landing Novocherkask ship.
"And the fleet in Russia is getting smaller and smaller! Thanks to the Air Force pilots and everyone involved for the filigree work!" said Oleshchuk.
The report has not been independently verified and there was no immediate comment from Russia.
Governor Sergei Aksyonov said only that the Ukrainian attack resulted in a fire in the town's port area that was promptly contained.
Footage posted on several Russian news outlets on Telegram showed powerful explosions and fires over a port area.
Earlier, Russian forces claimed to have gained full control of Maryinka, a town in eastern Ukraine, in what would be one of Russia's most significant gains since the capture of Bakhmut in May.
Most accounts of Maryinka, southwest of the Russian-held regional centre of Donetsk, describe it as a ghost town.
President Vladimir Putin said control of the town, which was once home to 10,000 people, will allow the Russian forces to move enemy combat units away from Donetsk.
"Our troops (now) have the opportunity to reach a wider operational area," he said in a video of the exchange between him and Shoigu posted online by a Kremlin journalist.
Russia's last major success on the battlefield was the capture in May of Bakhmut, theatre of some of the bloodiest fighting.
Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in June aimed at retaking land in the country's south and east, including Bakhmut.
However Ukraine's forces have made little progress in the counteroffensive in the face of entrenched Russian resistance.
Russian troops have also intensified land and air-based attacks on the nearby town of Avdiivka since mid-October as the focal point of their slow-moving push through eastern Ukraine's Donbas region in the 22-month-old conflict.
Later in the day, the Ukrainian army denied that Russian forces had seized Maryinka.
"It's not correct to talk about seizing Maryinka," Ukrainian military spokesman Oleksandr Shtupun told Ukrainian television.
"Our forces are within the city," he said.
Meanwhile, a draft law posted on Ukraine's parliament website late on Monday proposes lowering the age of those who can be mobilised for combat duty from 27 to 25.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told his end-of-year news conference on December 19 that the military had proposed mobilising 450,000-500,000 more Ukrainians, but that it was a "highly sensitive" issue that the military and government would discuss before deciding whether to send the proposal to parliament.
Zelenskiy said he wanted to hear more arguments for mobilising additional people. "This is a very serious number," he said.
Ukraine's troop numbers are not known, but in the past it has been said the country has around 1 million people under arms.
US officials estimate that hundreds of thousands have been killed and wounded since Russia invaded Ukraine. Neither country publishes its casualty figures.
Australian Associated Press
