(Updated with GUR press release, details)
KYIV, February 14 (Reuters) –
The Ukrainian army and military intelligence (GUR) said on Wednesday that it had destroyed a Russian landing ship, the Tsezar Kunikov, off the coast of Crimea using naval drones.
The vast assault ship was hit on the port side and began to sink, the GUR said in a statement.
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The Kremlin declined to comment.
“The Armed Forces of Ukraine, together with the intelligence unit of the Ministry of Defense, destroyed the large landing ship Tsezar Kunikov. It was in Ukrainian territorial waters near Alupka at the time of the strike,” he said. said the army on Telegram messaging.
The seaside resort of Alupka is located not far from Yalta, at the southern tip of the Crimean peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.
The GUR released a video on Telegram showing several maritime attack drones approaching a large ship at night and at least one explosion. Reuters was able to verify that it was indeed Tsezar Kounikov, without being able to verify the date or location of the images.
The Tsezar Kounikov, one of the newest ships in the Russian fleet, has a crew of 87 men. He participated in conflicts in Georgia, Syria and Ukraine, GUR said.
Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda posted videos showing a column of smoke rising above the Black Sea, as well as helicopters flying over the area.
Russian news agency RIA, citing the Russian Defense Ministry, reported earlier on Wednesday that six Ukrainian drones were destroyed over the Black Sea.
Ukraine, which no longer has a large ship itself, having scuttled its only frigate at the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, is working to weaken the Russian fleet through this type of attacks carried out regularly.
A senior Ukrainian security official claimed in December that Ukraine had destroyed 20% of the Black Sea Fleet. (Pavel Polityuk, Jean-Stéphane Brosse for the French version, edited by Kate Entringer)
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