With 13 days apart Ukrainian Forces sunk another Russian Navy Warship that belonged to the Black Sea Fleet on Wednesday 14th February, 2024 , the Ropucha Class landing ship RFS TSEZAR KUNIKOV (BDK-64).
She was built in Poland at Stocznia Polnocna at Gdansk and commissioned on 30th October 1986 she was a Project 775 (NATO reporting name: Ropucha-I-class) large landing ship (Bol’shoy Desantnyy Korabl) of the Russian Navy. She was named after Soviet Naval Infantry officer Tsezar Kunikov. As part of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, she took part in the KFOR mission, the Russo-Georgian War, the Syrian Civil War, and the Russo-Ukrainian War.
During this war the vessel passed from several issues –
On 24 March 2022 the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that TSEZAR KURNIKOV and her sister ship NOVOCHERKASSK had been damaged during an attack that destroyed the Tapir-class landing ship RFS SARATOV in the port of Berdiansk. Video of the incident showed both landing ships retreating from the port soon after the attack.
On 18 April 2022 it was reported that the ship’s commander, Captain 3rd rank Alexander Chirva, passed away.
On 24 August 2022 it was reported that both TSEZAR KURNIKOV and NOVOCHERKASSK were out of action due to lack of spare parts to repair the ships. The lack of spare parts was attributed to the sanctions imposed on Russia. According to Ukrainian spokespersons, the ship was later used to transport ammunition.
On 14 February 2024, Ukrainian Armed Forces released a statement that they had attacked the landing ship using MAGURA V5 unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) while the ship was off the coast of Alupka in Crimea.
