The Ukrainian military says it destroyed the Russian amphibious assault ship “Caesar Kunikov” on Wednesday, but before that the Ukrainians sank a number of other Russian warships, which forced the Russian navy to move its fleet to the eastern Black Sea, writes Le Monde.

The Special Services of the Armed Forces of Ukraine released a video of a kamikaze marine drone attack carried out by the “13th Defense Group of Ukraine” on Wednesday. The ship hit the left side and began to sink.

The ship was sunk on the same day when the Soviet officer whose name it bears died 81 years ago. Caesar Lvovich Kunikov (June 23, 1909 – February 14, 1943) was a Soviet marine officer. During the Second World War, he was the commander of the landing force that captured Mala Earth, and then he was mortally wounded.

The Ministry of Defense of Russia does not comment on this issue, but reported that they shot down six Ukrainian drones “over the waters of the Black Sea.”

The ship “Cesar Kunikov” and the connection with Syria and Bashar Assad

The ship, 112 meters long and weighing 2,812 tons, belonged to the 197th brigade of landing ships of the Black Sea Fleet and the 30th division of surface ships. The vessel was built in 1986 in Gdansk, Poland.

In October 2015, he was sent to Syria with a shipment of weapons and ammunition intended for Bashar al-Assad’s army, writes Le Monde, News.ro reports.

In April 2022, its commander Oleksandr Shirva died after allegedly being wounded during a Ukrainian attack, but few details were known at the time.

In August 2022, the Russian website Mash reported that the Caesar Kunikov and the Novocherkassk, another Ropucha-class amphibious assault ship, were decommissioned due to a lack of spare parts for repairs as a result of sanctions imposed against Russia.

Frederic Van Lokeren, a former Belgian naval officer, documented Russian losses in the Black Sea in his X Account.

What other ships has Russia lost since the beginning of the invasion

Prior to the destruction of Caesar Kunikov, the Russian fleet suffered a series of Ukrainian attacks, which forced the Russian fleet to change its position in the eastern part of the Black Sea.

In fact, NATO’s secretary general said on Wednesday that the Russian fleet had suffered “heavy losses” in the Black Sea, calling it a “great success” for Ukrainian forces. “The Ukrainians managed to inflict heavy losses on the Russian fleet in the Black Sea,” Stoltenberg said at a press conference, without commenting specifically on the Russian warship Caesar Kunikov, which Kiev said on Wednesday it had destroyed.

What else has Putin’s army lost since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2024:

• On March 24, 2022, “Saratov” was sunk, and “Novocherkask” and “Tezar-Kunikov” were damaged during the missile attack on Berdyansk.
• On April 13, 2022, the Moscow cruiser was sunk by two Neptune missiles.
• As reported, on June 17, 2022, the tug Vassili Beh was sunk by two Harpoon missiles. In June 2023, a monument to its crew was inaugurated in Sevastopol, but the Ministry of Defense of Russia did not officially confirm the death of this ship.
• On October 29, 2022, the minesweeper “Ivan Golubets” was damaged by naval drones in Sevastopol.
• On August 4, 2023, the amphibious assault ship “Olenegorsk Hornyak” was damaged by naval drones.
• On September 13, 2023, the amphibious assault ship “Minsk” and the submarine “Rostov-on-Don” were destroyed by Storm Shadow missiles. Russia announced the repair of the ship “Minsk”.
• On November 4, 2023, the Askold missile frigate was destroyed by the Storm Shadow missile complex.
• On December 26, as a result of a missile attack on Feodosia, Novocherkassk was destroyed.
• On January 31, 2024, the ship “Ivanovets” was sunk by marine drones on Lake Donuzlav.