As the war that wasn’t supposed to be this way enters its second month, another stark example of why the war is this way was reported on Thursday after a Russian landing ship “packed with ammo” was blown up in the occupied Ukrainian port city of Berdyansk, according to Ukrainian officials.

***BREAKING***

Now beyond any reasonable doubt that a #Russian Navy Alligator Class landing ship exploded in #Berdiansk, Ukraine

Reportedly a Ukrainian ballistic missile strike. Two Ropucha Class ships also present, observed sailing away as fire raged pic.twitter.com/eg8kXp6jfy

— H I Sutton (@CovertShores) March 24, 2022

As reported by the BBC, the port has become a major logistics hub for Russian forces. Footage from the area showed fire and smoke billowing from the berthing area. Kyiv said the attack destroyed the Russian navy landing ship Orsk. Berdyansk, which is west of the besieged port of Mariupol, was seized four days after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Video of the Black Sea Fleet's Saratov Project 1171 large landing ship on fire in the port of Berdyansk and two Project 775-class large landing ships departing port. At least one of the two is also on fire.https://t.co/5ogDVTpkC3 pic.twitter.com/s7hDcSKtwQ

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) March 24, 2022

As noted by the BBC, the Russian army hailed the arrival of the Orsk in Berdyansk last week as an “epic event” as it was the first Russian warship to dock there. Moscow says it has used the port as a base to ferry in equipment for its troops. Drone footage filmed by Russian state TV showed an armored personnel carrier being offloaded from the Orsk in the port.

Video of the Black Sea Fleet’s Orsk Project 1171 large landing ship offloading BTR-82A vehicles in Berdyansk. https://t.co/G2RaJM1DaL pic.twitter.com/S21wCfcIbO

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) March 21, 2022

Ukrainian officials did not immediately disclose how the attack was carried out, although Ukraine’s new Neptune anti-ship missiles have a range of roughly 200 miles but have not been used in the war so far. But the Ukrainian navy boasted in a Facebook post:

A large paratroop ship ‘Orsk’ of the black sea fleet of occupiers was destroyed in the occupied Russian port Berdyansk.Glory to Ukraine!

Russian officials didn’t immediately confirm the attack.

Clearly, Putin’s envisioned short incursion into Ukraine, during which he reportedly believed Russian troops would be met by Ukrainians as liberators, continues to go from bad to worse — on multiple levels.

Not only have Ukrainian forces fought more fiercely and effectively than even the U.S. believed they would; Putin’s invasion has only served to unify NATO far more than member countries have unified themselves in decades. As my colleague Streiff reported on Wednesday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced increases in assistance to Ukraine, four news NATO multinational battlegroups on NATO’s Eastern Flank — doubling the total number to eight —and the possibility of permanent basing.

Also on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a new video to the Ukrainian people, which he continues to do on a nightly basis. But for the first time, he spoke English — a sign it was meant for a worldwide audience. He said, in part:

The War of Russia is not only the war against Ukraine. Its meaning is much wider. Russia started the war against freedom as it is, this is only the beginning for Russia on the Ukrainian land. Russia is trying to defeat the freedom of all people in Europe; of all the people in the world. It tries to show that only crude and cruel force matters. It tries to show that people do not matter as well as everything else that makes us people. That’s the reason we all must stop Russia. The world must stop the war.

Zelenskyy was correct.

Meanwhile, the most inept president of the United States in modern history arrived at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, as described by my colleague Bonchie, grinning like a Cheshire cat. “Shockingly,” Biden refused to take questions.

Biden arrives at NATO, but refused to take questions.

Most other world leaders took questions. pic.twitter.com/vguCF1A5gG

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 24, 2022

Speaking of Joe and the NATO meeting, his Twitter account on Wednesday trumpeted:

I’m on my way to Europe to rally the international community in support of Ukraine and ensure Putin pays a severe economic cost for his war of choice.

Said the “rallier” who failed to disclose in advance to NATO allies his disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.