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Russian landing ship “Caesar Kunikov”
Photo: Yoruk Isik / REUTERS
The Ukrainian army says it has destroyed a Russian warship in an attack in the Black Sea. The landing ship "Caesar Kunikov" was attacked off the coast of the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Moscow, the Ukrainian army announced on Wednesday in the Telegram online service. The Ukrainian media portal Ukrayinska Pravda published several videos showing a column of smoke and helicopters flying over the sea.
The Russian Ministry of Defense initially did not comment on this. It only spoke of six Ukrainian drones that were allegedly successfully shot down over the Black Sea that night.
At the beginning of February, Ukraine attacked and severely damaged the Russian missile ship Ivanovets with several sea drones. Ukraine sees the Russian Black Sea Fleet as significantly weakened. According to Kiev's estimates, it has so far lost almost a third of its combat ships.
Ukraine has been defending itself against a large-scale Russian invasion for almost two years. The Ukrainian military has already sunk or at least seriously damaged Russian warships with missiles and maritime drones on several occasions. The Russian Black Sea Fleet has now been largely pushed out of the western part of the Black Sea.
asc/AFP/Reuters/dpa