Attack near Crimea
Ukrainian naval drones are said to have sunk Russian ships
November 11, 2023, 7:30 a.m
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Ukraine has little to counter Russia militarily at sea because it no longer has a fleet. With sea drones, Kiev can always set pinpricks, including now. Two Russian landing ships are said to have been hit in an attack near the Crimean peninsula.
Ukrainian naval drones sank two small Russian landing craft near the Crimean peninsula, according to Ukrainian military intelligence. According to the Ukrainian military, the ships were manned and loaded with armored vehicles.
The incident, captured on video released by Ukrainian military intelligence, is the latest example of Ukraine’s use of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) to combat the Russian Navy in the Black Sea.
Ukraine released footage on Friday that it said shows two drone strikes on Russian landing ships – a Serna-class ship and an older Ondatra-class ship – in a port on the occupied Crimean peninsula. The video was initially posted on Telegram before being shared by other sources on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
After the video was published, Ukraine posted on Telegram a satellite image of the pier where the Russian landing ships were located in Uzka Bay, noting that the drone boats sank both ships. One sank “immediately” while the other “fought unsuccessfully” before also sinking later. The Russian Defense Ministry has not yet commented on the matter.
Ukraine renders Russian corvette unusable
Since the end of 2022, Ukraine has increasingly been relying on remote-controlled maritime drones to inflict damage on the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Two major attacks were carried out in early August this year. One was for the landing ship Olenegorsky Gornjak near the port city of Novorossiysk, another was for the Russian tanker Sig in the Kerch Strait. Ukraine no longer has its own fleet. Russia captured some ships, others were destroyed. In addition, Ukraine destroyed some of its own ships so that they would not fall into the hands of the Russian invaders.
In addition to sea drones, Ukraine also repeatedly uses Storm Shadow or Scalp cruise missiles – supplied by Great Britain and France – to attack the Russian Black Sea Fleet. In early November, the Saliv shipyard in the city of Kerch, near the Crimean Bridge, was hit. A new Russian corvette was hit, which, according to Ukrainian information, had not even been used yet. It was later reported by the Ukrainian side that the “Askold” was damaged beyond repair.