FACT CHECK: Did Ukraine Eliminate ‘Dozens’ Of Russian Landing Ships?
A video shared on Facebook claims Ukraine eliminated “dozens” of Russian landing ships.
Verdict: False
The Russian Navy has not lost any landing ships recently. There is no evidence that Russia has lost a substantial amount of its military.
Fact Check:
A 21-year-old Massachusetts National Guardsman was arrested Apr. 13 in the leak of classified Ukraine war documents, according to CNBC. The suspect, Jack Teixeria, is expected to appear in court on Friday to face charges under the Espionage Act, The Associated Press reported.
The Facebook video, viewed more than 12,000 times, claims that Ukraine destroyed dozens of Russian landing ships. The video’s caption reads, “Russian navy in the middle of Hell- Dozens of Russian landing vessels eliminated in one night!”
This video, however, is false. If the Russian Navy had lost several dozen landing vessels, media outlets would have covered it, yet none have. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has claimed 18 destroyed Russian naval vessels, a number unaltered since January 2023.
Ukraine sunk the Saratov, a Russian landing ship, in March 2022 with a missile strike, though the Russians salvaged the ship in July 2022, according to BBC News. Ukraine has also targeted other Russian landing craft around Snake Island, such as this Project 11770 Serna-class landing craft.
#Ukraine: A Ukrainian Bayraktar TB-2 drone strike struck and destroyed what appears to be Project 11770 Serna-class landing craft, again at Snake Island. pic.twitter.com/w7qrgzWaPo
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 7, 2022
The Jerusalem Post reported that Ukrainian General Staff had claimed to have destroyed five boats that were used by Russian reconnaissance and sabotage groups in a single day in February 2023.
Misinformation around the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is not new. Check Your Fact debunked a March video claiming that Ukraine captured Crimea.