Ukraine sank a Russian landing craft off the coast of occupied Crimea on Wednesday using naval drones, according to Kyiv’s military espionage agency and armed forces.
Russia, which had previously announced it had destroyed six drones in the Black Sea, did not respond immediately. The Kremlin refuses to make any comments.
“The Ukrainian Armed Forces, together with the Defence Ministry’s intelligence unit, destroyed the Tsezar Kunikov large landing ship. It was in Ukraine’s territorial waters near Alupka at the time of the hit,” the military said on Telegram messenger.
The Black Sea resort town of Alupka lies not far from Yalta on the southern edge of Crimea, which Russian forces seized and annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency said the warship appeared to have been loaded when it sank and that, before the attack, it had spent some 10 days at a loading site used by the Russian military.
It published grainy footage on Telegram purporting to show several naval drones approaching a large vessel at night and at least one large explosion.
Some of the footage at the end appeared to show major damage with the vessel listing heavily to one side.
“In summary, Tsezar Kunikov received a critical breach on the port side and started sinking,” the GUR agency said in a statement.
