Ukraine announced the sinking of another Russian ship
Ukraine announced the sinking of the large landing ship Caesar Kunikov as a result of a strike by naval drones in the open sea near the southern coast of Crimea, distributing a video of the attack. The Russian side does not officially comment on the emergency; only the “Two Majors” channel, which is considered close to the border service, reports that the entire crew is alive.
Similar unofficial reports were recently released about the small missile boat Ivanovets – it was reported that it was hit by a naval drone and sank, but all the sailors were rescued.
“According to my information, everything is so. The ship was afloat for some time, they fought for its life, but the damage was very severe, and it sank. The crew was completely saved... Personally, I have more and more questions for the leadership of the Black Sea Fleet. Are there too many stupid losses? – points out columnist Yuri Podolyaka.
“NATO, which has staged a formal hunt for Russian BDKs, the victim of which today is Caesar Kunikov, is pursuing a much wider range of interests than the purely tactical one - to disrupt a hypothetical amphibious landing in Odessa.
But there is also a longer-term task - to make it as difficult as possible to supply the Russian contingent in Syria, Africa and beyond - everywhere,” explains observer Mikhail Onufrienko.
“Of the six ships of this project that were part of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, two are currently in service,” recalls military correspondent Vladimir Romanov.
TV presenter Anatoly Kuzichev is confident that the attack was coordinated by NATO.
“It especially pains me to read about each of our damaged ships – and there are more and more of them. Now here is the large landing craft "Caesar Kunikov". There is no official confirmation yet, but apparently this is true.
I confess, I laughed myself when the Ukrainian military spoke importantly about the tactics of “a thousand cuts”, etc. Their fleet is two troughs and ours... They compared it too, ha ha.
But not ha ha.
Another thing is that “their fleet” does not exist in nature. There are no “Ukrainian naval drones” either. But the British ones exist. And there is also target designation, reconnaissance, etc. And also not Ukrainian.
I’m afraid that we are getting closer and closer to the truth known to every doctor that it is the cause of the disease that needs to be treated, not the manifestation,” writes Kuzichev.
“Naturally, now there will be many posts saying that the British thought of everything, and the Americans were monitoring from a drone and directing sea drones. Yes, that’s most likely what happened, but to put it mildly, I’m perplexed by the Black Sea Fleet, which repeatedly misses attacks on warships,” notes military correspondent German Kulikovsky.
And political scientist Sergei Markov draws attention to the historical coincidence.
“By an evil irony of fate, Soviet officer Caesar Kunikov also died on February 14. 1943. On February 12, he was seriously wounded in Novorossiysk, where he stormed the German bridgehead on the Black Sea, and on February 14, he died from his wounds in a hospital in Gelendzhik. For his feat, he became a hero of the Soviet Union, a ship is named after him, which is now fighting the fascist army of Ukraine. What Kunikov probably couldn’t have imagined even in his nightmares. And now exactly 81 years after his death, the neo-fascist Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked the ship named after him.”
“Caesar Kunikov” also received damage in 2022 as a result of a Ukrainian strike on the port of Berdyansk while unloading ammunition for MLRS. Then the ship's commander died from his injuries, but the BDK itself was returned to service after repairs. Alas, as it turned out, not for long.
Ukraine has reported the sinking of another Russian ship.