Ukraine says it destroyed Russian warship in Black Sea

In a significant development, Ukraine on Wednesday said that it destroyed another Russian warship in the Black Sea. The region has been a key battleground between the two warring nations for over two years. Kyiv’s military said its forces together with military intelligence units had “destroyed” the “Caesar Kunikov” Russian landing ship off the coast of the Crimean peninsula. Ukraine has been claiming to make military gains in the Black Sea, an area vital for Ukrainian exports while defence on land has been static.

According to media reports, a Russian large landing ship Caesar Kunikov was attacked and possibly sank in the Black Sea.

There have been reports that this is an operation of Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine and the ship was attacked with drones.

"Caesar Kunikov"… pic.twitter.com/wSo3VJUHAY

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) February 14, 2024

A large ball of smoke and flames could be seen rising from what appeared to be a ship in footage posted by Ukrainian military intelligence. “The enemy ship was attacked by Magura V5 maritime strike drones off the coast of the temporarily occupied Crimea near the city of Alupka,” it said. Meanwhile, Russia, which had earlier said that it downed six Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea, has not commented on the recent Ukrainian counter-offensive. Ukraine has used uncrewed navy drones packed with explosives to attack Russian warships to try to drive them out of the western parts of the Black Sea, making it possible to open a shipping corridor along a traditionally key export route. With inputs from agencies