Ukraine Launches Major Black Sea Naval Drone Attack Toward Crimea

Ukraine launched drone attacks on Russian-controlled Crimea from the air and sea overnight, the Russian government said on Wednesday.

Russian air defenses intercepted 10 airborne drones over Crimea, Moscow said on Wednesday. The Black Sea naval fleet, partially based on the peninsula, “destroyed” four Ukrainian waterborne drones, also known as uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs), which “were heading for the Crimean Peninsula,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv has consistently zeroed in on Russian assets dotted around Crimea, which the Kremlin has controlled for a decade. Ukraine has vowed to reclaim the peninsula. Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian military for comment via email.

A local Telegram channel that regularly shares updates from the peninsula reported on Thursday that local residents had heard three “loud” explosions close to Sevastopol. The Russian-installed governors of the peninsula and of the city of Sevastopol did not comment early on Wednesday.

Kyiv does not have a major navy or large warships, but its military, security and intelligence agencies have wielded long-range missiles, as well as airborne and waterborne drones, to hit a variety of Russian targets.

The GUR, Kyiv’s military intelligence agency, uses its Magura V5 naval drones, while the SBU security service opts for SeaBaby USVs.

Ukraine has homed in on air bases, logistics hubs, oil terminals and Black Sea Fleet naval facilities, namely the large base in the southwestern port city of Sevastopol.

The strikes have forced Russia to relocate some assets from Sevastopol to its mainland Russian base in Novorossiysk, further east in the Black Sea and the northwestern region where Kyiv can more easily threaten its naval fleet. Ukraine has also targeted Novorossiysk.

Russia has attempted to shield its bases from attacks by using barges, decoys and false silhouettes to trick or trip up Ukrainian drone operators, British intelligence has said.

Moscow announced earlier this year that it would beef up the protection around its fleet with large-caliber machine guns to shoot at incoming naval drones before they strike Russian vessels.

Earlier this month, the Russian government said its first-person-view (FPV) drone operators with the Black Sea Fleet were “training to destroy uncrewed boats.”

Ukrainian USV operators “actively maneuver, changing course and speed, making it as difficult as possible for FPV drone operators to find and approach the target,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Moscow shared footage it said showed a “Ukrainian-made Magura trophy uncrewed boat” that the Black Sea Fleet drone operators used for target practice during training exercises. Newsweek could not independently verify the clip.