A big Russian amphibious ship, the Caesar Kunikov, has been
sunk off the coast of Russian-occupied Crimea, according to Ukraine's armed
forces.
Powerful explosions were heard early on Wednesday, according
to local social media, which suggested the landing ship was hit south of the
town of Yalta.
Ukraine's intelligence directorate released video of what it
said were Magura V5 sea drones striking the ship.
Ukraine has repeatedly hit Russia's Black Sea fleet in
occupied Crimea.
Satellite images last year showed much of the fleet had left
the peninsula for the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.
Ahead of a Nato ministerial meeting in Brussels, the
secretary general of the Western defensive alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, said
Ukrainian forces had won a "great victory" in recent months,
inflicting "heavy losses" on the Black Sea fleet that had opened a
corridor for Ukrainian grain exports.
Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine is due to enter its third
year next week and Ukraine's armed forces chief has admitted the situation is
"extremely complex and tense".
Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, who was appointed
commander-in-chief last week, visited the front line on Wednesday and promised
that units trying to prevent Russian troops from capturing the flashpoint town
of Avdiivka would be reinforced. Avdiivka is almost empty and all but
surrounded by Russian forces and one of the soldiers defending it said earlier
that the situation there was critical.
"We are doing everything possible to prevent the enemy
from advancing deep into our territory," he wrote on social media.
Overnight, a Russian missile attack claimed three lives
including a child in the mining town of Selydove, 40km (25 miles) west of
Avdiivka. Officials said four missiles had hit the local hospital and maternity
ward, as well as nine blocks of flats.
Emergency services said the hospital maternity ward in
Selydove had taken the main impact of the attack
IMAGE SOURCE,DSNS UKRAINE
Image caption,
Emergency services said the hospital maternity ward in
Selydove had taken the main impact of Tuesday night's attack
Several other residents were wounded, including a baby.
There was no confirmation from Russia's navy that the Caesar
Kunikov had been sunk in the Black Sea, merely that six Ukrainian drones had
been destroyed. The Kremlin has also refused to comment on the incident.
Video appearing to show the aftermath of the Ukrainian
attack was uploaded only recently, OceanNewsUK confirmed.
"The Caesar Kunikov suffered critical holes in its port
side and began to sink," Ukraine's main intelligence directorate said on
the Telegram messaging site, adding that it had been destroyed off the Crimean
coastal town of Alupka in Ukrainian territorial waters by a unit called Group
13.
It said an operation to rescue up to 87 crew members had
been "unsuccessful" and "according to available information,
most were killed".
The Magura V5 unmanned drones the directorate said were used
in the attack are made in Ukraine and travel just above the sea surface at a
speed up to 42 nautical miles an hour, their manufacturer says.
Amphibious ships are used to move assault troops to land
quickly, especially in enemy territory, but the chances of them being used for
this purpose in Ukraine are almost zero.
Instead they are being used to ferry military supplies, in
effect as heavily armed transport ships.
But several recent incidents have shown that Russian naval
vessels can be vulnerable to attacks by numerous low-flying targets, which can
go undetected by radar. They also lack the small-calibre artillery, machine
guns and electronic warfare systems needed to take out these drones.
Russian military bloggers did not deny the Caesar Kunikov
had been hit, saying only that the crew had survived. Russia's military rarely
reports major losses and Russians rely on a handful of popular bloggers for
information.
Also, a former sailor who served on board the Caesar Kunikov
told OceanNewsUK that all the crew, of which there were 89 members, had
succeeded in leaving the sinking ship in time.
Crimea map
One blogger noted that the ship had met its fate on the same
day of the year (14th February) as the man it was named after - a Soviet
commando officer and World War Two hero who died of his wounds after a mine
explosion in 1943.
The Caesar Kunikov dates back to the end of the Soviet era.
If its sinking is confirmed, it would be the second successful strike in the
Black Sea this month. A small warship, the Ivanovets, was sunk by drones in a
special operation almost two weeks ago.
Another Russian landing ship, the Novocherkassk, was hit
while in port in Feodosiya in December.
Russia seized and annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine
almost 10 years ago and its forces based there played a big role in the
full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Caesar Kunikov has already been targeted since the war
began. It was damaged along with the Novocherkassk in a Ukrainian strike on the
occupied port of Berdyansk in March 2022, when a third landing ship, the
Saratov, was sunk.
