In recent days, the Ukrainian Defense Forces have made several attempts to attack the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s ships that are obstructing the freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.
It is currently difficult to assess the effectiveness of these attempts, as the Ukrainian side has not commented on them and information about them has come only from the Russian military, the CFTS portal reports.
On 1 August, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that three unmanned boats attempted to attack the Russian ships Sergei Kotov and Vasily Bykov, which were located 340 km southwest of Sevastopol. The surface drones were allegedly destroyed.
On 25 July, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that two Ukrainian surface drones attempted to attack the Sergei Kotov patrol ship, which was 370 kilometers southwest of Sevastopol. The attempt was also allegedly unsuccessful.
On 27 July, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the detention of a Russian Navy serviceman allegedly recruited by Ukrainian intelligence agencies. According to the FSB, the serviceman attempted to commit an act of sabotage on a Black Sea Fleet missile vessel.
On 11 June, an attempt to attack the Russian ship Priazovye with marine drones was reported.
On 24 May, three surface drones attacked Russia’s Ivan Khurs reconnaissance ship. "This one was definitely hit," said Andrii Klymenko, the head of the Monitoring Team at the Black Sea Strategic Research Institute, adding that all these attacks took place 130–200 kilometers from the Bosporus.
