Ukraine claims to have damaged a third of Russia’s Black marine Fleet after military intelligence said it sank another Russian warship in a marine drone attack off the coast of Crimea on Wednesday.
Russia’s landing ship Caesar Kunikov was targeted by “MAGURA” V5 drones that punctured “critical holes” on its left side before sinking, according to the Ukrainian military intelligence service said on Telegram.
Wednesday’s attack was conducted by the agency’s “Group 13” special forces unit in cooperation with Ukraine’s security and defense forces, the statement said.
The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine said the ship had been moored for 10 days at a specialized berthing location where Russia could load it with weapons and military equipment. It also said the ship appeared to be loaded at the time of the attack.
Wednesday’s attack is the latest in a series of Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s navy, as it tries to land both strategic and symbolic blows against Russian forces that annexed Crimea in 2014.
As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nears its second anniversary, the frontlines have for months remained mostly static.
But since last year Ukraine has pivoted to the Black Sea, saying its strikes on Crimea and Russian ships are intended to isolate the peninsula and make it more difficult for Russia to sustain its military operations on the Ukrainian mainland.
