Sinking of Russian Warship Sparks Wave of Valentine's Day Memes

The sinking of a Russian landing ship in the Black Sea on Wednesday has sparked a wave of memes online, with one Ukrainian official describing it as a Valentine's Day gift to his country.

Kyiv claimed to sink Russia's Caesar Kunikov landing ship in a drone attack near the southern Crimean city of Alupka, marking the fifth landing ship in Russian President Vladimir Putin's Black Sea Fleet that's been destroyed. Moscow has not confirmed Ukraine's report, and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the claim during a conference call with reporters Wednesday.

In response, several social media users have posted memes about the ship's destruction.

Belarusian media outlet NEXTA shared a collection of such posts on X, formerly Twitter, including one photo that used an image of Putin's interview with talk show host Tucker Carlson last week. The meme, which played off of the Kremlin leader's drawn-out history lesson at the start of his talk with Carlson, read, "...and then we lost a warship, in a land war, on Valentine's Day."

A separate meme included a photo of a warship that was caught in an explosion, which was encircled by a red heart. The photo read, "Love is...when the Russian screams for a long time." In another post, a user made a video of Darth Vader, the key antagonist in the Star Wars franchise, yelling underwater.

Newsweek has reached out to Russia's Defense Ministry via email for comment on the reported sunken ship.

Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov told reporters that the drone attack on the Caesar Kunikovkilled most of the crew on board the ship. He also said that the sinking of Moscow's landing ship was a reason for Ukrainian citizens to "rejoice" on Valentine's Day.

"This is a difficult period, difficult times," Yusov added. "Nonetheless, in these difficult times, Ukrainians have the right to a holiday, and that's why [Ukrainian forces] congratulated Ukrainians on Valentine's Day today. This is such a successful operation, when Caesar Kunikov is now at the bottom of the sea, and everyone is rejoicing."

Ukraine has taken out a large chunk of Putin's naval fleet since the start of the war nearly two years ago. According to the British Defense Ministry, as of late December, Russia had lost 20 percent of its Black Sea Fleet in the previous four-month span.

Kyiv's forces targeted the Ropucha-class Minsk landing ship in September 2023, which the U.K. government said had "almost certainly been functionally destroyed." Ukraine drones also attacked a Project 775 landing ship, the Olenegorsky Gornyak, in August 2023.