Ukraine claims another kill in Russia’s Black Sea Fleet

Ukraine’s special forces claimed another kill in Russia’s Black Sea Fleet on Wednesday, releasing footage that purportedly shows the sinking of a “large landing ship” off the coast of occupied Crimea.

“The successful mission was carried out by the special forces of Group 13 of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine,” Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence agency announced, according to a Ukrainian media translation.

The strike appears to be another victory for Ukraine’s new maritime drone fleet, which Ukrainian officials credited with the destruction of another Russian warship on Feb. 1. The attacks extended a pattern of Ukrainian pressure on Russia’s navy, which has given Ukrainian forces and their Western supporters a success in the midst of a difficult year on land.

“They have actually been able to push the Black Sea Fleet away from the western part of the Black Sea,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday when asked about the reported sinking of the Caesar Kunikov. “And this is a great achievement, a great victory for the Ukrainians. The fact that they’ve been able to push away the Russian Black Sea Fleet and open a corridor, so they are able to export grain and other commodities to the world market.”

The vessel was named after a Soviet Red Army officer who earned a posthumous “Hero of the Soviet Union” award for his exploits fighting against Nazi forces in 1943. (Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler agreed with his Soviet counterpart, Joseph Stalin, to launch the joint invasion of Poland that started World War II in 1939, but then he broke their alliance and invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.)

“Large holes were blown in the port side and the Tsezar Kunikov began to sink,” Ukrainian officials said, using an alternative transliteration of the name. “It is symbolic that the Russian officer after whom the ship was named was killed exactly 81 years ago. The occupiers’ search and rescue operation was unsuccessful.”

The timing of the attack was not lost on pro-Russian social media, as the destruction of the vessel on the anniversary of its namesake’s death seemed to underscore the impunity of the Ukrainian attacks. 

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“Where is the protection of the Black Sea fleet?” one pro-Russian writer asked, according to the War Translated project.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the ship’s fate on Wednesday, saying it was “the prerogative of the Ministry of Defense” to field such questions. “Ukraine has disabled a third of the Russian Black Sea Fleet during the large-scale invasion,” the Ukrainian military told CNN.