Video shows attack

Ukraine: Russian warship sunk off Crimea

Footage from the Ukrainian secret service is said to show the attack at night.(Bild: HUR)

According to the General Staff, the Ukrainian military has sunk a Russian warship off the Crimean peninsula. The large landing ship Caesar Kunikov was destroyed by the armed forces in cooperation with intelligence units, it was reported on Wednesday. There was no comment from Moscow.

The Ukrainian military intelligence service HUR published a video on Wednesday showing the moment of the attack on the 112-meter-long ship. According to the video, the Caesar Kunikov was attacked with Magura V5 naval drones not far from the city of Alupka on the southern tip of Crimea.

Recordings by the Ukrainian secret service are said to show the attack at night.(Bild: HUR)

The footage (see X-Post below) shows the drones hitting the ship and exploding. The Ukrainian telegram channel "Crimean Wind" first reported on night-time detonations off Crimea and also published a video.

Kremlin: drones successfully shot down
The Kremlin did not want to comment on the reports on Wednesday. The Russian Ministry of Defense only spoke of six Ukrainian drones that were allegedly successfully shot down over the Black Sea during the night.

The ship, named after a Soviet commander, was launched in Gdansk in 1986 and has a crew of 87. Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was used in the Syrian civil war, where it supplied weapons and ammunition to the army of dictator Bashar al-Assad.

The video shows violent explosions.(Bild: HUR)

Attacks push back Russian fleet
In the defensive battle against the large-scale Russian invasion almost two years ago, the Ukrainian military has already sunk or at least severely damaged Russian warships several times with missiles and naval drones. As a result, the Russian Black Sea fleet has now been largely pushed out of the western part of the Black Sea.

Last December, a large Russian landing ship was hit by Ukrainian cruise missiles. At least one person was killed. In 2022, the Ukrainian armed forces sank the centerpiece of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser Moskva.