Kyiv
CNN
—
Ukraine said it had carried out a sea drone attack on a Russian naval base, as dramatic videos appeared to show a damaged Russian warship listing heavily in the Black Sea early Friday.
Social media images showed the ship being towed near the Novorossiysk naval base, despite earlier claims by the Russian defense ministry that the attack had been repelled.
A Ukrainian source told CNN that a sea drone with 450 kilograms of TNT had attacked the ship and claimed there were about 100 Russian servicemen aboard.
“A big navy ship Olenogorsky Gornyak was hit,” the source told CNN. “As the result of the attack, the Russian ship has received serious damage and is not able to fulfill its duties.”
The vessel was identified by the Ukrainian source and Russian military bloggers as the Olenogorsky Gornyak, an amphibious Russian landing ship.
CNN was provided with video showing an unmanned sea drone approaching a ship that appears to match the identity of the one later seen listing in the port of Novorossiysk.
The 36-second video, shot from the sea drone, shows it approaching a ship at night. The video ends just as the drone reaches its target.
The Ukrainian source said the attack was a joint operation of the was carried out in a joint operation of the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Navy.
View this interactive content on CNN.com
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said later Friday morning that the port of Novorossiysk “is working in normal mode after the night UAVs attack,” citing the Russian Seafarers Union.
“Cargo operations are going on as planned,” RIA Novosti reported.
It added – despite video evidence to the contrary – that “the Russian military had repelled an attack by two surface drones in Novorossiysk, with no casualties or damage,” according to regional governor Veniamin Kondratiev.
“Regarding civilian vessels and in the port, everything is calm,” the Seafarers Union was quoted as saying.
Earlier Russia claimed to have intercepted two Ukrainian sea drones, with the defense ministry saying the boats were “visually detected and destroyed by fire from the standard weapons of Russian ships guarding the outer roadstead of the naval base.”
Friday’s attack comes amid rising tensions in the Black Sea, after Russia withdrew from a grain deal crucial to global food supplies and resumed its blockade of Ukraine’s ports, as well as launching a prolonged bombardment of its infrastructure and grain storage facilities.
Ukraine has previously targeted Russian naval assets in the Black Sea. In April 2022, shortly after the invasion began, one of Russia’s most important warships – the flagship guided-missile cruiser Moskva – sunk, with Ukraine claiming to have downed it with anti-ship cruise missiles.
As Ukraine’s sea drone program has developed, it has increasingly allowed the military to attack and surveil Russia’s fleet in the Black Sea and on the occupied Crimean peninsula.
CNN was granted exclusive access to a sea drone base last week, where officials said the latest version of the drones had a range of 500 miles and were capable of traveling at 50 miles per hour.
Defense sources confirmed to CNN that sea drones were involved in several significant operations, including the attack in July on the Kerch Strait Bridge linking Crimea to Russia. The strike took out a road section of the bridge, which is a vital supply artery for Russian forces.
One of the drone’s developers told CNN that the size and speed of the unmanned boats made them tough for the Russians to track.
“It is very difficult for them to get into such a small drone, it is very difficult to find it,” the developer said. “The speed of these drones exceeds any sea craft in the Black Sea region at the moment.”
Credit: Source link
