Tonight, on February 14, south of occupied Crimea near Alupka, the Caesar Kunikov large landing ship of the russian Black Sea Fleet was struck and sunk. This incident occurred as a result of a coordinated operation between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
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The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported the attack, underscoring that the vessel was in the Ukrainian territorial waters. Evidently, the assault utilized surface kamikaze drones, marking the first instance of such drones sinking a large landing ship. Previously, these drones had managed to damage the Olenegorsky Gornyak landing ship on August 4, 2023, as well as other vessels of the russian Black Sea Fleet, though not to the point of complete destruction.
However, there has since been an increase in the deployment of sea drones for attacks, accompanied by enhancements in attack tactics. This led to russian Ivanovets missile boat becoming the casualty attributed to these weapons. According to reports from residents of the temporarily occupied peninsula, relayed by Krymsky Veter, the ship came under attack in darkness, with a series of powerful explosions heard. It is speculated that the ship may have been carrying ammunition, a common task for russian landing ships in the Black Sea.
At dawn, significant helicopter activity was observed over the site of the ship’s destruction, engaged in search and rescue operations. A rescue ship and rafts from the sunken Caesar Kunikov ship were also spotted in the vicinity.
The Caesar Kunikov is a Project 775 vessel, a main class of landing ships in the russian federation, launched in 1986. This ship had previously sustained damage during the strike on occupied Berdiansk on March 24, 2022. It and the later-destroyed Novocherkassk ship managed to depart the port, albeit with the ship’s captain fatally wounded.
It should be noted that this loss is not the first suffered by the russian federation concerning large landing ships. Prior to this incident, the following vessels were destroyed by missile strikes: Saratov ship in Berdiansk (March 24, 2022), Minsk ship in Sevastopol (September 13, 2023), and Novocherkassk ship in Feodosia (December 26, 2023).
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