Vladimir Putin lost another ship.

Ukraine’s efforts to expel the czar’s invading army might be hopeless at this juncture, stymied as they are by ammunition shortages and the harsh realities of attrition warfare with a larger, better-armed adversary. But the downside of the stalemate for the Kremlin is that, unable to score a breakthrough on the frontlines, Kyiv is prone to drone attacks inside Russia and strikes against the Black Sea fleet, both acts of desperation even as the latter have strategic benefits.

On Wednesday, Ukraine sunk the Caesar Kunikov south of Yalta, where it was carrying ammunition, or at least judging by what looked like large explosions following a drone attack. GUR, Ukraine’s military intelligence service, posted a video of the vessel’s final three minutes in service. Set to music, the short film showed Magura V5s closing in and delivering a fatal blow to the ship.

The Caesar Kunikov was nearly lost in the early days of the invasion, when it narrowly escaped a March 2022 attack that sunk the Saratov. “The armed forces, together with the Defense Ministry’s intelligence unit, destroyed the Caesar Kunikov,” Ukraine’s military said on social media, adding that the ship was in Ukraine’s territorial waters near Alupka.” Alupka’s a resort. It’s close to Yalta on the southern tip of Crimea. “In short, the Caesar Kunikov suffered a critical breach on the port side and started sinking,” GUR went on.

The loss of another ship won’t turn any tides, of course. But it’s another embarrassment for Putin, no solace for the beleaguered Ukrainian populace, but a small measure of consolation perhaps.

The Kremlin’s lost somewhere around 20% of the Black Sea fleet in the war, according to various accounts. I’m no military strategist, but I have to believe that constitutes a complete waste in the context of future battles Russia might actually need to fight. This was (and is) purely a war of conquest. Sacrificing a meaningful portion of a nation’s naval power in the service of a meaningless war — a dictator’s vanity project — seems misguided in the extreme.

I should quickly note that Wednesday’s incident was another example of successful asymmetric warfare: Unmanned naval drones sinking a large landing ship. The Kremlin has other such ships in the Black Sea, and Putin’s surely considering whether to move them. But given their apparent role in resupplying troops in southern Ukraine, it may not be feasible to keep them out of harm’s way.

In any event, the sinking of the Caesar Kunikov came as the US House looked poised to sink a Senate-passed foreign aid bill which, in addition to providing more than $60 billion in desperately needed funding to Kyiv, would also unlock $14 billion for Israel’s “defense” (note the scare quotes) as well as financial assistance for Taiwan. Mike Johnson indicated he won’t even dignify the package with a vote.

The Caesar Kunikov is named for a Soviet infantry officer. He died on this day in 1943. On Wednesday, Ukraine said his commemorative namesake was “upgraded to a submarine.”