Ukraine says it has sunk a Russian Black Sea patrol ship near Crimea

Ukraine said Tuesday it had sunk a Russian patrol ship off the coast of occupied Crimea, claiming another victory over the Kremlin's forces in the hotly contested waters of the Black Sea.

Moscow did not confirm the claim, which would represent the latest blow to its naval power as Kyiv strikes targets deep inside enemy territory even as its army suffers setbacks on the battlefield.

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said that it had used high-tech sea drones in an overnight attack on the large patrol ship Sergey Kotov near the Kerch Strait, separating the annexed peninsula’s eastern coast from mainland Russia.

The agency published a video purporting to show the ship being blown up and going up in flames. It did not say anything about the fate of the ship’s crew.

NBC News could not independently verify the video, or confirm the extent of the damage to the ship or personnel losses.

The ship can reportedly carry cruise missiles and around 60 crew, according to The Associated Press.

A Telegram channel tracking traffic on the nearby Kerch Bridge, which connects Crimea to Russia, said traffic was temporarily suspended overnight, without specifying the reason. The traffic on the bridge resumed early Tuesday.

Ukraine has dealt Russia's Black Sea fleet a number of costly blows in the last year, despite an unsuccessful counteroffensive on the ground.

It’s been losing territory to new Russian offensives in recent weeks, hampered by ammunition shortages and stalled Western aid, but Kyiv appears to still be able to mount successful operations at sea.

In the early months of the war, Ukraine famously dealt Russia a high-profile setback by sinking the flagship Moskva with hundreds of crew on board.

More recently, Kyiv has