Satellite Photos Show Burning Russian Landing Ship Destroyed by Ukraine

• New aerial images from Maxar show a Russian landing ship destroyed by Ukrainian forces on March 24.
• The Pentagon claimed that the Russian army was using the ship to bring supplies to besieged Mariupol.
• The Ukrainian army confirmed on Thursday that it had destroyed the warship.

New satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies show an amphibious Russian landing ship burning and flooding in the Ukrainian port of Berdyansk in southern Ukraine on Friday. 

The Russian ship is an Alligator-class landing ship that was hit by Ukrainian forces on March 24.

The Pentagon on Friday said that the ship was offloading supplies for Russian troops currently besieging the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, according to The New York Times. 

“The destroyed ship in Berdyansk could carry up to 20 tanks, 45 armored personnel carriers, and 400 paratroopers,” Anna Malyar, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister said on Thursday, according to The Times. “This is a huge target that was hit by our military.”

The first photo shows fire and smoke can be seen billowing from the ship, which is partially submerged.

In the second photo, the bigger vantage point also shows a burning storage tank with white smoke coming out of it in the port.

On February 24, Russia launched a military assault on neighboring Ukraine. 

Since early March there has been fierce fighting in Mariupol, a strategic city that would link Russia-controlled Crimea with Russia-controlled areas in Eastern Ukraine.

Russian forces bombed a theater where over a thousand Ukrainians were seeking shelter in the city, killing 300 people according to local officials. Hundreds of thousands of civilians are still trapped with little access to food and water.