Most of crew of Caesar Kunikov warship is likely to have been dead - Navy
This was announced by the spokesman for the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Dmytro Pletenchuk during a telethon, Censor.NET reports citing RBC-Ukraine.
According to Pletenchuk, the enemy is trying to hide its losses, and it is not yet known how many Russians died as a result of the ship's destruction. At the same time, the circumstances suggest that it was a "fairly large" part of the crew.
"Aship is a unit that does not go to sea alone. Accordingly, the crew was most likely present on board, albeit not in full - but most likely in full. Given the weather conditions and the time of day - it was still dark - it is highly likely that a large proportion of the crew perished. Ambulances took them from the shore, but it's hard to say in what condition," the navy spokesman explained.
As Censor.NET reported, on the morning of 14 February, the Russian large amphibious assault ship Caesar Kunikov was attacked in the Black Sea.
Later, the DIU noted that on 14 February 2024, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, in cooperation with all components of the Security and Defence Forces of Ukraine, destroyed the large landing ship Caesar Kunikov of the Black Sea Fleet of the aggressor state of Russia.
"The successful mission was carried out by the special forces of the Group 13 of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine. The special operation was made possible with the support of the United24 platform. The enemy ship was attacked by Magura V5 maritime strike drones off the coast of the temporarily occupied Crimea near the city of Alupka," the statement said.
As a result, the Caesar Kunikov sustained critical holes in its port side and began to sink. It is symbolic that the Russian officer after whom the ship was named was killed exactly 101 years ago.
The occupiers' search and rescue operation was unsuccessful.
