FILE PHOTO: Destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur launches a Harpoon surface-to-surface missile during Pacific Vanguard (PACVAN) quadrilateral exercises between Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, and U.S. Naval forces in the Philippine Sea May 26, 2019. Picture taken May 26, 2019. U.S. Navy/Mass Communications Specialist 1st Class Toni Burton/Handout via REUTERS.
FILE PHOTO: The US Navy guided missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur launches a Harpoon surface-to-surface missile during Pacific Vanguard (PACVAN) quadrilateral exercises between Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, and U.S. Naval forces in the Philippine Sea May 26, 2019.U.S. Navy/Mass Communications Specialist 1st Class Toni Burton/Handout via REUTERS.
  • The tugboat was hit by two Harpoon missiles in the Black Sea.

  • It is the first time that Ukraine has said it destroyed a Russian ship.

  • The US gave the Harpoons to the Ukrainians, according to a statement from the Ukrainian military.

The Russian Navy's tugboat was hit by two Harpoon missiles in the Black Sea.

It is the first time that Ukraine has said it destroyed a Russian vessel with Western weaponry.

The attack was announced on the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian armed forces. The anti-ship missile is said to be blowing up the vessel. The footage could not be verified by Insider.

The head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration said that the naval forces hit the Black Sea Fleet support vessel with the anti-aircraft missile system. He sank later.

The Ukrainian military claimed that the Vasily Bekha was transporting weapons and personnel for the Black Sea Fleet.

The Harpoon anti-ship missiles were part of a multi-billion dollar aid package championed by President Joe Biden.

The Russian missile cruiser
Russian missile cruiser Moskva is moored in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Sevastopol, Ukraine May 10, 2013. It was sunk by Ukraine in April 2022.Reuters/Stringer/File photo

On June 15, the US Department of Defense said it would supply truck-mounted Harpoons.

In addition to the US missiles, Ukrainians have developed their own sea warfare weaponry. The flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, the Moskva, was sunk by Ukrainian forces in April.

Russian tanks, armored combat vehicles, and 14 ships or vessels have been destroyed by the Ukrainian military since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, it said on the Telegram channel.

Business Insider has an article on it.