Ukraine says it destroyed Russian ship in Black Sea

STORY: Ukraine destroyed a Russian landing warship off the coast of occupied Crimea, its military and spy agency said on Wednesday (February 14).

This footage was released by Kyiv's defense ministry. It purports to show the operation with naval drones that breached the vessel's port side in the early hours of Wednesday, causing it to start sinking.

There was no immediate comment from Russia, which said earlier that it had destroyed six drones in the Black Sea. The Kremlin declined to comment.

Reuters was able to verify the ship in the video as the Russian Black Sea Fleet's Tsezar Kunikov based on its main mast, antenna, bridge and deck.

The location and date the footage was filmed could not be independently verified.

The ship was in Ukraine's territorial waters near Alupka at the time of the hit, the military said on Telegram messenger.

The Black Sea resort town of Alupka lies not far from Yalta on the southern edge of Crimea, which Russian forces seized and annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

The Project 775 warship was one of Russia's newest vessels, has a crew of 87 and took part in wars in Georgia, Syria and Ukraine, Ukraine's GUR military intelligence agency said in a statement.

Ukraine has used uncrewed navy drones packed with explosives to attack Russian warships to try to drive them out of parts of the Black Sea and make it possible for Ukraine to open a shipping corridor along a traditionally key export route.

Ukraine has no large naval ships left and deliberately scuttled its own flagship at the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion to prevent it falling into Russian hands.

Newly developed naval drones have been vital for Ukraine as it tries to narrow the vast gap in its naval capabilities with Russia which has a powerful Black Sea Fleet that Kyiv has been trying to degrade.

A senior Ukrainian security official said in December that it had already destroyed 20% of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.