Ukrainian Air Force Strikes Russian ‘Mechanik Pogodin’ Tanker

11 March, 2024 Damaged Russian tanker Mechanik Pogodin in the Kherson region, March 11, 2024. Ukrainian aircraft struck the Russian invaders' tanker 'Mechanik Pogodin'. Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, Commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, announced this.

Oleshchuk stated that the airstrike targeted a Russian command post located on a grounded ship. The video, captured by a Ukrainian reconnaissance drone, shows the moment when the facility was struck. Given the fact that aircraft were used, the accuracy of the hit, and the large-scale destruction caused by the powerful explosion, it can be assumed that the strike was carried out by a US JDAM or French AASM. The 'Mechanik Pogodin' is located on the left bank of the Kherson region, 2.5 kilometers from the village of Vynohradne, Skadovsk district.

Tanker Mechanik Pogodin

The damaged tanker is notable not only because of its role in the current hostilities, but also because of its history, which stretches back to 2018. Back then, the Russian vessel was blocked in the port of Kherson by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies. According to the permanent representative of the President of Ukraine in Crimea, Borys Babin, the vessel was on the NSDC sanctions list, and was "detected and documented" by the Security Service of Ukraine.

After the occupation of Kherson in 2022, the Russians tried to withdraw the sanctioned tanker, but were unable to do so after running aground.

Since then, the vessel has been located near the village of Vynohradne, and, after the de-occupation of the right-bank of the Kherson region, it fell into the so-called "gray zone" between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Russian invasion forces.

It is highly likely that the ship was used by Russian units on the left bank of the Kherson region as a fortified facility for deploying electronic intelligence and surveillance equipment.

A week earlier, the Ukrainian Air Force hit Russian positions in the Kherson region with a French-made AASM 250 HAMMER guided bomb.