Joseph Trevithick
Satellite imagery shows work on the first of Russia’s Project 23900 big-deck amphibious assault ships, also known as the Ivan Rogov class, is continuing at a shipyard on the occupied Crimean Peninsula. Ukrainian forces have targeted the Zaliv yard in the past, severely damaging at least one warship.
Ukrainian outlet Defense Express called new attention to the ongoing work on the initial Ivan Rogov class ship at Zaliv yesterday, publishing a satellite image from an unspecified source it said had been taken in “spring 2025.” TWZ subsequently obtained another image from Maxar Technologies, seen at the top of this story and uncropped later on, which was captured on Nov. 17, 2024, and also highlights the progress that has been made in the past year or so. Russia has two Project 23900s on order, currently set to be named Ivan Rogov and Mitrofan Moskalenko, and a keel-laying ceremony was held at Zaliv back in 2020.
The image from Maxar and the one Defense Express obtained both show the Project 23900 amphibious assault ship very much still under construction. At the same time, the hull is dramatically more complete than it was in 2023 or even by the middle of the following year. Two large rectangular gaps are now visible, which could be for elevators to move aircraft and other materiel between the flight deck and below-deck hangars. The ship still lacks its flight deck and island.
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