Black Sea Fleet Disaster Gets Muted Kremlin Response

The Kremlin has refused to comment on the fate of Russia's Ropucha-class landing ship Caesar Kunikov and its crew members after Ukraine claimed to have destroyed the vessel using naval drones.

Ukraine's Defense Intelligence released a video purportedly showing the moment its drones struck the vessel with MAGURA V5 sea drones off the annexed Crimean Peninsula, near the city of Alupka.

It said the Caesar Kunikov was damaged on its left side and began to sink, and that it is symbolic that the Russian officer after whom the ship was named was killed exactly 81 years ago.

When questioned by reporters on Ukraine's latest claim to victory over Russia's Black Sea Fleet, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov asked for such matters to be forwarded to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

"This is directly related to the progress of the [war in Ukraine]. Accordingly, this is the exclusive prerogative of the Ministry of Defense. I suggest you rely on the statements of our military colleagues. I can't tell you anything about this," said Peskov.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has yet to comment on the incident, but said earlier that it had destroyed six drones in the Black Sea. Newsweek has reached out to the defense ministry for comment by email.

While it isn't clear how many people were on board at the time of the attack, publicly available data states the ship had 87 crew members.

Ukrainian military intelligence implied that all on board the warship at the time of the attack were killed.

"The search and rescue operation of the occupiers was not successful," it said in a post on Telegram.

Ivan Stupak, a former officer in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and now an adviser to the Ukrainian parliament's national security, defense and intelligence committee, told Newsweek that Russia's Black Sea Fleet has suffered extensive casualties in the ongoing war.

"The result is on the scoreboard, or rather on the seabed. In total, the Russian Federation has already lost five ships of this class in the Black Sea," Stupak said on Wednesday.

He also said the method used by Ukraine in the attack on the Caesar Kunikov was inspired by World War II submarine tactics.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces described the warship's destruction in a statement.

"The Armed Forces of Ukraine, together with the Main Intelligence Directorate, destroyed the large landing ship Caesar Kunikov. At the time of its destruction, it was in the territorial waters of Ukraine near Alupka," the General Staff wrote on its social media pages.

The Crimean Wind channel said Wednesday that residents of Yalta, Alupka and Miskhor in Crimea heard five explosions.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces Center for Strategic Communications (StratCom) said Kyiv's forces had by February 6 "disabled" about 33 percent of the Back Sea Fleet's warships.

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