Russia launched missiles from a submarine to strike a civilian business center in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, a senior U.S. military official confirmed Friday.
The attack killed 23 people, The Washington Post reported.
The U.S. official did not have any additional updates on submarines in the Black Sea but the missiles are likely Kalibr NK missiles, given the range needed to hit Vinnytsia — about 300 miles north of the Black Sea. The Russians have a fleet of Kilo-class submarines in the Black Sea submarines capable of launching missiles that have a range of 1,000 nautical miles, USNI News previously reported.
Although the Russians are claiming they targeted a Ukrainian military facility, there is no evidence that one was there, the senior military official said. From the video the official saw, it appears to be a residential building.
“I didn’t see anything there that looked anything close to military,” the official said. “It looked like an apartment building. So no, I have no indication that there was a military target any near anywhere near that.”
USNI News contributor H.I. Sutton tweeted a picture Friday that shows a Kilo-class submarine submerging behind a Russian frigate in the Black Sea.
The submarine needs to be submerged to fire its missiles, Sutton wrote in his tweet.
https://twitter.com/CovertShores/status/1548023440354840577?s=20&t=oMnRSkhQEn-S7HFgs6b6ag
The Kalibir missiles have been in use by the Russian Navy since the 2010s and operate similarly to the U.S. Tomahawk land attack missiles. The missiles were first reportedly used in a conflict against Islamic State targets in 2015, USNI News reported at the time.
In March, the Russian Ministry of Defense released footage of a Buyan-M-class corvette firing eight Kalibir missiles at targets in Ukraine.
