The Russian landing ship Caesar Kunikov was sunk off the coast of Occupied Crimea after coming under attack by a swarm of Ukrainian unmanned surface vessels. The sinking, confirmed by Ukrainian and Russian sources, is the third successful USV attack on Russian military vessels in or near Crimea in as many months and the eighth sinking of a major Russian ship since the war began nearly two years ago.
The Caesar Kunikov was a Project 775 Ropucha-class landing ship tank (LST) capable of carrying up to ten main battle tanks and 340 troops. While designed for amphibious assaults, the six Ropuchas and three 1960s vintage Tapir-class LSTs in the Black Sea fleet were idle early in the war, and since the attacks damaging the Kerch Strait bridge have been pressed into service to ferry ammunition and equipment from Russia to ports in Occupied Crimea. The change of mission has resulted in the…
