The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) damaged a Russian submarine in the Black Sea port of Novorossishk on Monday after an underwater drone attack. They may have traveled about 700 kilometers.
According to the security service During the operation, carried out in cooperation with the Ukrainian Navy, a Kilo-class diesel-electric submarine that was moored in the port among other naval vessels was struck. During the attack, the Ukrainians say they used unmanned sea drones for the first time, which do not operate on, but below the water surface. This makes the remotely controlled drones virtually invisible from shore or from ships.
According to Kyiv, the Russian submarine (valued at $400 million) was damaged beyond repair in the attack. A video distributed by the Ukrainian security service on Monday afternoon shows a massive explosion at a vessel in the Novorossiesjk naval port. The images cannot be independently verified. It is also not clear how the Ukrainian service obtained the video images from the Russian port.
According to Ukraine, the Russian submarine was armed with, among other things, four Kalibr cruise missiles. These are weapons that are used on a large scale in Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
Too vulnerable
The Ukrainians have developed drones on a large scale in recent years, both in the air, on the ground and at sea. Thanks to the deployment of a rapidly growing arsenal of naval drones, Ukraine managed to largely expel Russia’s Black Sea Fleet from the waters around Crimea after the 2022 large-scale invasion. Dozens of Russian warships were damaged or sunk.
The drones that Ukraine deployed on Monday are Sub Sea Baby called the underwater version of the Sea Baby that has been used against Russian ships for some time. Hardly any details have been released about the Sub Sea Baby.
What is certain is that Ukrainian naval drones are improving rapidly. According to Kyiv, successful attacks have already been carried out on Russian helicopters and fighter planes above the sea with regular naval drones. The sea drones are also getting an increasingly greater range: according to Ukraine, the latest types can travel hundreds of kilometers. This means that the Ukrainian drone fleet covers almost the entire Black Sea.
According to British naval specialist HI Sutton, this new, unique attack poses a serious dilemma for Russia when it comes to the future of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea. “Attacks like these have far greater consequences than targeting specific ships or submarines that have been put out of action,” wrote he on the social network Bluesky. “Russia now faces a choice: either invest even more in securing the base (and never feel safe), or find a more secure base (which doesn’t exist, meaning it amounts to a complete withdrawal from the Black Sea.”
Base
The Russian naval port of Novorossieshk has been forced to convert into an operating base for the Black Sea Fleet in recent years. Before the numerous Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian warships in the Black Sea began, Sevastopol in occupied Crimea was the homeport of the fleet. But the Russians have been considering that environment too vulnerable for several years.
Ukraine hardly has its own navy anymore
The expulsion of the Russian war fleet from the waters around Crimea is all the more remarkable because Ukraine hardly has its own navy anymore after the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014 and the 2022 attack.
In September 2023, the Ukrainians already destroyed a Russian submarine in a dry dock in Sevastopol. That attack was carried out with Storm Shadows, a British cruise missile. Shortly after the large-scale invasion, the Ukrainians had already sunk the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, the Moskva, with missiles.
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