Russian ship “Caesar Kunikov” sunk off Crimea

A Russian landing craft sank off the southern coast of the Crimean peninsula. It appears to be an operation by the Ukrainian secret service.

A Russian landing craft sank on Wednesday morning south of the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula in violation of international law. Observers had earlier reported explosions in the Black Sea region. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has now confirmed that the ship sank. According to the Ukrainian newspaper “Ukrainska Pravda”, Ukrainian Navy drones attacked the military ship.

According to the report, this was the operation of HUR, the military intelligence agency of Ukraine. The Russian landing ship “Caesar Kunikov” was so badly damaged that it sank. “Caesar Kunikov” is a Robucha I class landing craft. This could not be independently verified.

The Russian Defense Ministry spoke only of the six Ukrainian drones it said were successfully shot down over the Black Sea that night. Observers said Russian military helicopters were seen in the area shortly after the explosions on the landing craft.

Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for nearly two years. The Ukrainian military has already sunk or at least severely damaged Russian warships on several occasions with missiles and maritime drones. The Russian Black Sea Fleet is now largely withdrawn from the western part of the Black Sea. You can read more about it here.

The fourth Russian landing craft sunk in the Black Sea was the “Caesar Kunikov”. Russia uses ships primarily for military transport. Last December its sister ship “Novocherkask” was hit and destroyed by a Ukrainian cruise missile in the port of Feodosia, Crimea. You can read more about it here.

The landing craft “Caesar Kunikov” is about 113 meters long and 15 meters wide. When fully loaded, the ship weighs about 4,100 tons. It is currently unknown how many crew members were on board.