Ukrainian drones sink Russian naval units near Crimea
7:43 AM EDT, May 30, 2024
The Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) reported that their drones destroyed two cutters belonging to a Russian naval unit near occupied Crimea. The Russian armed forces attempted to defend themselves against the attack using air forces.
The Russian units, designated as KS-701 Tuna-class, were attacked by Ukrainian unmanned drones at night. The attack occurred in Narrow Bay, near the village of Chornomorsk in western Crimea. The Ukrainians used their domestically produced Magura V5 naval strike drones for the attack.
In a statement issued by HUR, it reads: "To damage the naval strike drones at the entrance to Narrow Bay, the Russian occupiers in Crimea launched combat aircraft 32 times, including Su 27/30/35 planes, MiG-29, Be-12, An-26, and Ka-27/29 and Mi-8 helicopters."
In September 2023, the Ukrainian navy reported the destruction of a Russian KS-701 cutter in the northwestern part of the Black Sea during an attempt to land enemy troops. As a result of this attack, six Russian soldiers were killed, and two were injured.
The KS-701 cutter is a small patrol unit used by the Russian border guard under the Federal Security Service. This cutter is produced in various versions at factories in Kostroma.
"Group 13"
On Thursday, HUR reminded that since the beginning of the year, the particular unit "Group 13," which stands behind the recent attack, has destroyed the following Russian units using Magura drones: the missile ship Ivanovets, the large landing ship Caesar Kunikov, the corvette Sergey Kotov, and the high-speed patrol cutter Mangusta.
The most significant loss for the Russian navy during the war with Ukraine occurred in April 2022, when the missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, was sunk. According to official Kremlin information, only one crew member died on the cruiser, and 27 were reported missing. However, independent observers believe that the actual number of casualties could be much higher, even exceeding 400 Russian military personnel.
