JAKARTA - Ukraine claims to have damaged a Russian Navy logistics ship near Snake Island, a small but strategic outpost in the Black Sea.
The renewed fighting around Snake Island in recent days may become a battle for control of the western Black Sea coast, according to some defense officials, as Russian forces struggle to make advances in northern and eastern Ukraine.
"Thanks to the actions of our naval sailors, the support ship Vsevolod Bobrov caught fire, this is one of the newest in the Russian fleet," said Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman for the Odesa regional military administration.
Reuters could not independently verify the details. Russia's defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Satellite imagery provided by Maxar, a private US-based company, shows a possible missile attack on Russia's Serna-class landing craft near the island, near Ukraine's maritime border with Romania.
Images also show recent damage to buildings on the island, which rose to prominence for the foul-mouthed defiance of Ukrainian defenders early in the invasion.
Russia faced further setbacks on the battlefield as Ukraine expelled its troops from the area around the second-largest city of Kharkiv, the fastest advance since forcing Kremlin forces from Kyiv and northeast more than a month ago.
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Reuters reporters have confirmed Ukraine now controls territory that stretches to the banks of the Siverskiy Donets River, about 40 km (25 miles) east of Kharkiv.
Footage released by the Ukrainian Airborne Forces Command showed several burnt military vehicles and part of a bridge that appeared to be destroyed and partially submerged in a river.
Meanwhile, regional authorities reported ongoing missile attacks in the vicinity of Poltava and shootings in Dergach, near Kharkiv, which killed two people.
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