Tsezar Kunikov destroyed by Ukraine: What's known about one of Russia's newest vessels

General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirms destruction

The information about the destruction of the Russian ship Tsezar Kunikov in the Black Sea was first spread in the media, local TV channels, and by the so-called Russian "military commanders". It was reported that the landing ship was hit by drones and subsequently sank.

Later, the information about the destruction of the ship was confirmed by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"The Armed Forces of Ukraine, together with units of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, destroyed a large Russian landing ship, the Tsezar Kunikov. At the time of the attack, the ship was in the territorial waters of Ukraine near Alupka," the General Staff says in a statement.

Tsezar Kunikov sinking

According to the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, a successful mission to destroy Tsezar Kunikov was carried out by the special forces of Group 13 of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine.

The enemy ship was attacked by Magura V5 maritime strike drones off the coast of the temporarily occupied Crimea near the city of Alupka.

"As a result, the Tsezar Kunikov got critical holes on the port side and began to sink... The search and rescue operation of the occupiers was unsuccessful," the DIU notes.

The intelligence also notes that this large landing ship was one of the newest Russian vessels.

Tsezar Kunikov landing ship

"The Tsezar Kunikov (BDK-64) is a large amphibious assault ship of Project 775. It was used by terrorist Russia during the wars against Georgia, Syria, and Ukraine.

It was put into service with the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy based in Sevastopol. The ship's tail number is 158.

Its total displacement is 4 thousand tons. The crew consists of 87 people.

During the Soviet era, it was part of the 197th Brigade of Landing Craft of the 39th Division of the Naval Landing Forces based in Novoozerne (Crimea), Donuzlav.

It was named after the Soviet officer Tsezar Lvovich Kunikov. By the way, some people have already seen some symbolism in this. After all, the Soviet officer after whom the ship was named was killed exactly 101 years ago.

As for the VDK, it used to be a patron ship of the city of Zelenograd (since 1998) and the Chelyabinsk region (since 2011).

"The Tsezar Kunikov took part in the KFOR operation in Kosovo (1999) and the Russian-Georgian war (2008), and provided supplies to the Syrian army (2015).

From July 6, 2013, to October 24, 2014, the Tsezar Kunikov was repaired at the Fleet Arsenal shipyard in Varna, Bulgaria. At the end of November, the ship was towed to Sevastopol, where it returned to the permanent readiness forces after the crew completed their training tasks.

In April 2015, together with the Nikolay Filchenkov ship, it conducted amphibious landing exercises. From May 5 to 8, he visited Istanbul, where he represented Russia at the IDEF-2015 international arms exhibition. In October of the same year, the Tsezar Kunikov was sent to Syria with a cargo of ammunition and weapons for the Syrian army (Operation Syrian Express).

In April 2019, the steering system was repaired at the Black Sea Fleet's 13th shipyard.

By the way, these ships have recently been used by the Russians mainly as transport, in the logistics chains of the occupation forces.

Photo: At the beginning of the Russian invasion, Ukrainian soldiers tried to destroy the Tsezar Kunikov (wikipedia.org)

Ukraine had previously damaged this landing ship. Then its captain was killed

At the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Defense Forces had already tried to destroy the large amphibious assault ship Tsezar Kunikov.

In April 2022, in the port of Berdiansk, Ukrainian soldiers destroyed the large amphibious assault ship Saratov, while Tsezar Kunikov and Novocherkassk (later destroyed in the port of Feodosia on December 26) were damaged.

Although the Tsezar Kunikov managed to escape, the captain of the ship, Alexander Chirva, died of wounds he received in a battle with Ukrainian forces.