Ukraine on Tuesday claimed to have sunk another Russian warship in the Black Sea. Using a high-tech maritime drone, as Kyiv forces continue to target targets deep behind the front lines. Russian authorities have not confirmed this claim.  Ukrainian military intelligence announced that special forces destroyed the large patrol ship Sergei Kotov. Which was designed and built in Ukraine and also was carrying a Magura V5 unmanned vessel loaded with explosives overnight. The patrol vessel, which Ukraine said collided near the Kerch Strait. Was reportedly capable of carrying cruise missiles and also about 60 crew members.  Ukrainian claims could not be immediately independently verified, and disinformation. Was a feature of the fighting that erupted after Russia’s full-scale invasion of the neighboring country in February 2022. 

Struggles

Kyiv’s forces struggle to keep better-equipped Russian forces at bay along a nearly stationary 1,500-kilometer front. But they also have targets far beyond the battlefield. Last month, Ukraine claimed to have twice sunk Russian warships with drones. On February 1, it claimed to have sunk the Russian missile-carrying corvette Ivanovets. And also on February 14, it announced that it had destroyed the landing ship Caesar Kunikov. Russian officials have not confirmed these claims.

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known by its Ukrainian acronym GUR, said the country’s special operations force Group 13 sank the Caesar Kunikov with a Magura V5 maritime drone on Wednesday, damaging the ship’s left side. According to officials, the same unit also carried out an attack on February 1. Kyiv officials said that about 20% of Russia’s missile attacks on Ukraine are launched from the Black Sea and that attacking Russian ships in the Black Sea would be embarrassing for Russia. 

Almost a year ago, the guided missile cruiser Moscow, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was severely damaged by a missile attack and sunk. The flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet was “severely damaged” in an explosion that Ukrainian authorities blamed on a missile attack. Moscow Cruiser is a 12,000-ton Soviet-era, heavily modernized guided missile cruiser. She was originally named “Glory” and was first built at the shipyard in Mykolaiv, and she entered service in 1982. According to state media, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that an ammunition explosion occurred in the fire aboard the missile cruiser Moskva. The crew was evacuated while the cause of the fire was investigated.