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On the night of February 14, the Ukrainian military launched another attack with Unmanned Surface Vessels (USV) on a ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The target of the attack was the large landing ship Caesar Kunikov.
Unlike the previous strikes, which targeted Russian ships in the western and south-western waters of the Black Sea, today’s attack took place near the Crimean southern coast. The ship came under the attack near the town of Katsiveli, where it was filmed by the local residents.
The attack was launched at night. Despite the attempts of the crew to destroy Ukrainian USVs, Caesar Kunikov was hit by several unmanned boats. As a result of the damage, the ship caused to list. It was heavily damaged. Ukrainian sources claimed that the ship sank. Footage from the area after the attack showed that the ship was still seen on the water surface.
Some Russian sources reported that the crew was saved, but the footage confirmed that the chances of evacuation were not high. Russian military helicopters were seen in the area, likely carrying out a rescue operation.
The recently presented Group 13 of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine claimed responsibility for the attack, publishing the footage from the USVs:
The strike was carried out with coordination and guidance NATO reconnaissance aircraft. On February 13, the following NATO aircraft were spotted over the Black Sea:
- Boeing RC-135W Rivet Joint of the US Air Force — a large strategic reconnaissance aircraft;
- Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk of the US Air Force — strategic reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle;
- The Boeing P-8A Poseidon of the US Navy – an anti—submarine patrol aircraft.
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The large landing ship Caesar Kunikov was designed for the transportation and landing operations. It can carry up to 500 tons of cargo or up to 20 tanks or up to 50 armored personnel carriers. The ship does not have powerful weapons but it is equipped with several systems for self-defense, including two AK-725 57 mm artillery systems, two 30 mm AK-630 anti-aircraft guns and two RBU-6000 rocket launchers.
In 2022, the ship came under another Ukrainian attack. Tochka-U missile struck the port of Berdyansk, where a group of Russian large landing ships was unloading military equipment and supplies for the Russian military grouping in the Mariupol direction. Caesar Kinikov was damaged, but was restored and put back into service.
The ship was named after Caesar Kunikov, Hero of the Soviet Union, who during the Great Patriotic War commanded an amphibious group that captured a beachhead on the coast of the Kerch Peninsula in Crimea. Symbolically, Caesar Lvovich Kunikov died on February 14, 1943.
The ongoing successful attacks on the Russian Black Sea Fleet reveal that the Russian military command is yet to accept the new rules of war and to take any measures to secure the ships operating in the Black Sea.
As it was expected, Kiev launched an attack immediately after the Ukrainian army lost hundreds of servicemen in the Russian strike on the training ground in Selidovo. The Ukrainian military command prohibited to confirm the Russian strike and reveal any details of the losses. Today, the Ukrainians are celebrating a victory over the Russian ship and they already forgot about their compatriots dead as a result of shortsightedness of the Ukrainian military command.
