Ukraine claims to have severely damaged and sunk a Russian landing ship in its latest drone attack on Moscow’s Black Sea fleet.
Ukrainian military intelligence released video on Wednesday that it said showed several naval drones approaching the Ropucha-class large landing ship Cesar Kunikov off the coast of Crimea.
The drones hit the port side of the ship, the agency said in a statement, adding that it “suffered critical holes on the port side [of the hull] and began to sink”.
The Cesar Kunikov is a Project 775 large landing ship that can carry 87 crew members and was active in the conflicts in Syria, Georgia, and Ukraine, the agency said.
Video released on social media showed a plume of smoke rising from a ship said to be in the Black Sea, and there were reports in local Russian media of a search-and-rescue operation using helicopters over the water.
Russian officials have not confirmed the attack. “I suggest you refer to the statements of our military colleagues,” the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. The Russian military has not commented on the strike.
Russian military bloggers, who regularly publish information about incidents before they are confirmed by Russia’s military, corroborated reports of an attack against the Cesar Kunikov.
If confirmed, the strike would be the second successful operation this month against a Russian warship operating in the Black Sea.
On 1 February, Ukrainian Magura V5 sea drones struck the Russian warship Ivanovets in a sophisticated night-time attack that showed the vulnerability of Russia’s Black Sea fleet against unmanned naval vessels.
Ukraine’s military intelligence then published a grainy video showing several sea drones attacking the Russian corvette, ending with three dramatic images showing it listing, exploding and sinking.
The Ivanovets is a small missile warship that usually holds a crew of about 40 people. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties, although it is highly likely given the speed and intensity of the attack.
Kyiv has gradually pushed back on Moscow’s early dominance of the Black Sea through long-range missile attacks and the innovative use of sea drones.
“Time after time, the Black Sea fleet turns out to be incompetent and unable to repel attacks from Ukrainian units,” wrote Rybar, a popular Russian military blogger, in response to the attack on the Cesar Kunikov.
Created by the Ukrainians, the sea drones, based on modified jetskis, cost in the tens of thousands of dollars, operate in swarms and can be controlled remotely. The video released by the defence ministry is based on a selection of live video feeds from the drones, right up to the moment of impact in some cases.
Ukraine said both attacks were carried out by a special unit called Group 13, which specialises in unmanned naval warfare.