Ukraine likely used US-made ATACMS to take out a $300 million Russian submarine, UK intelligence says

• Ukraine likely used the US-made ATACMS to take out a prized Russian submarine, UK intelligence has said.
• The Kilo-class submarine Rostov-on-Don was hit in Sevastopol, Ukraine’s military said on Saturday.
• Ukraine has relentlessly targeted Russia’s Black Sea Fleet since the war began.

Ukraine likely used the US-made Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to take out a prized Kilo-Class Russian submarine, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.

The MoD said the attack on the sub “came in conjunction with a series of drone strikes.”

Ukraine’s General Staff first claimed it had struck and sunk the Russian Black Sea Fleet submarine the Rostov-on-Don in a statement on Telegram on Saturday.

“The boat sank on the spot,” the General Staff said.

“The destruction of the Rostov-on-Don proves once again that there is no safe place for the Russian fleet in the Ukrainian territorial waters of the Black Sea,” it added.

Business Insider was unable to independently verify the claim. The Russian Defense Ministry has not yet commented on the reports.

Ukraine’s military said the B-237 Rostov-on-Don “is one of four Kilo-class submarines capable of using ‘Kalibr’ missiles.”

It is not the first time that sub, which Ukraine says cost Russia $300 million, has been targeted in the conflict. In September, the submarine suffered catastrophic damage following a missile strike on a shipyard in Sevastopol.

The MoD said the submarine had “highly likely not been fully repaired” from that strike.

The latest incident is “almost certainly the final chapter for the submarine, with it highly likely being more economically viable to build a replacement submarine than recover and repair it,” the department added.

However, the MoD noted that while the fate of the Rostov-on-Don may be a “significant morale boost to the Ukrainian forces,” it was “highly unlikely to have any major impact on Russian long range maritime strikes into Ukraine from the Black Sea Fleet.”

Ukraine has reportedly used the ATACMS to take out a range of high-value targets during the war, including Russian air defense systems.

The US shipped long-range versions of the missiles with the capacity to travel around 190 miles to Ukraine earlier this year, bringing Russian-occupied Crimea well into range.

Despite having no traditional navy of its own, Ukraine has had huge success battling the Black Sea Fleet.

Many of the fleet’s ships have been forced to relocate eastward from the naval base in Sevastopol to Novorossiysk, and it has also lost a number of key warships, including its flagship, the Moskva.

The MoD said that the strike on the Rostov-on-Don sub will “highly likely force Russia to reconsider any plans to relocate any significant maritime force back to the peninsula.”

In addition to striking the submarine, the General Staff said Ukrainian forces had also severely damaged four S-400 antiaircraft missile launchers.

Frederik Mertens, a former strategic analyst at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, previously told BI that by targeting Crimea and defense systems such as the S-400, Ukraine was likely “preparing the ground” for the use of F-16 fighter jets, which recently arrived in Ukraine.